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Android second most popular mobile OS by 2013 - IDC |
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By 2013, IDC forecasts that worldwide shipments of converged mobile devices, popularly called smartphones, will surpass 390 million units, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.9% for the 2009–2013 forecast period. IDC says that underpinning the converged mobile device market is the constantly shifting mobile operating system (OS) landscape. Though the market was initially dominated by a handful of pioneers such as BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile, IDC says newcomers touting open standards, namely Android, and intuitive design and navigation such as the Mac OS X and webOS, have garnered strong end-user and handset vendor interest. In a recently published IDC study, titled “Worldwide Mobile OS 2009-2013 Forecast and Analysis”, IDC has reviewed each of the major mobile operating systems, including drivers, opportunities, and potential challenges. "Mobile operating systems have become the key ingredient in the highly competitive mobile device market. Although the overall look and feel of the device will still play an important role in the buying process, the wrong choice of operating system coupled with an awkward user interface can mean the difference between success and failure," says Stephen D Drake, vice president, Mobility and Telecom. IDC says Symbian will retain its leadership position worldwide throughout the forecast period, mainly on account of Nokia's strength in markets outside of the United States. Android will experience the fastest growth of any mobile operating system – starting from a very small base of just 690,000 units in 2008, total Android-powered shipments will reach 68.0 million units by 2013, making for a CAGR of 150.4%. Android, IDC says, stands to benefit from having a growing footprint of handset vendors supporting it and will finish second to Symbian in shipments by 2013. Linux and webOS shipments will struggle throughout the forecast period, IDC said. Shipments of Linux-powered devices will trend down due to greater emphasis on the Android platform but will not disappear entirely as some vendors will continue to support it. Palm's webOS, despite growing steadily, will capture limited market share due to limited deployment and availability of devices across multiple carriers. |
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