According to latest quarterly numbers released by Gartner on Smartphone sales to end-users by Operating System – Android based phones have sold 10.6 million units notching up 17.2 percent of market share.

While, I must admit that prima-facie we are comparing a single hardware (iPhone) which carries Apple iOS against bunch of phones that have Android platform on them – What I am trying to point here is the kind of meteoric growth that Android is seeing.

Take this – In corresponding 2nd quarter last year Apple iOS had a market share of 13 percent as compared to mere 1.3 percent of Android. While this year, Android has gone from 1.3 percent to 17.2 percent as compared to Apple iOS which saw just 1.2 percent market share to 14.2 percent.

Google now ranks third behind Symbian and RIM (Research in Motion) in Smartphone OS market share. Market leader Symbian has been the biggest looser with a fall of close to 10 percent (From 51 percent in 2009 to 41.2 percent in 2010). RIM on the other hand has lost little ground loosing about 0.8 percent market share (From 19 percent to 18.2 percent).

Worldwide Mobile Device Sales Market Share

The biggest beneficiary of Android surge has been HTC, who have come out with multiple Android based handsets. They managed to double their market share to 1.8 percent. Even Samsung who have many Android phones increased their handset market share by 0.8 percent.

Like I have mentioned before, Android is going to be market leader very soon, thanks to their open nature and excellent community of developers. It is not as polished as Apple iOS is, but it is matter of time before it gets there…

Your thoughts?