Android overtakes the Blackberry OS

MARKET WATCHING beancounter fim Statcounter has reported that the Google Android operating system is now more commonly in use than the long-established Blackberry OS.

The Android OS overtook its Blackberry competitor for the first time in February, Statcounter said, and took 15.2 per cent of the worldwide user market.

The Blackberry OS was visible on 14.5 per cent of handsets. Nokia's Symbian remained the best represented mobile operating system and appeared on 30.7 per cent, while Apple, which is in second place, had 24.6 per cent of the market. Although Android increased its share, the same was not true for the rest.

"The momentum is certainly with Android which has almost tripled its market share over the last 12 months from 5.4 per cent to 15.2 per cent," said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter. "In the same period IOS fell globally from 33.9 per cent to 24.6 per cent."

Although Nokia's Symbian shines globally, the same cannot be said for the US market, which is dominated by the Apple IOS with its 37.5 per cent share.

In the US Symbian has just around five per cent market share, while Android is in second place with 26.4 per cent.

Mobile devices are increasingly being used for web browsing, said Statcounter in an outbreak of stating the bleeding obvious, and has more than doubled in a year. µ