Another day, another report about smartphone market share. The folks over at Canalys have put out their numbers, and the results seem to follow the same trends that we've been seeing as of late. Android saw massive growth, going from 1.4 million devices sold in Q3 2009 to over 20.0 million in Q3 2010, which represents an increase of 1,039 percent worldwide. When it comes to just the U.S., Android managed to capture 43.6 percent of the market. Meanwhile, Apple snagged second place in the platform race with 26.2 percent of the market, making it the most popular hardware in the U.S. RIM is right on Apple's heels with 24.2 percent, with Microsoft and the "Others" category trailing with 3.0 percent each. When it comes to worldwide market share, Symbian is still king thanks to Nokia, owning 33 percent of the market.
None of this news should be terribly surprising considering all of the recent market share reports touting Android's progress. There continues to be tons of new Android phones released on every carrier every month, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the platform's share grow even further. The growth may not end up being over 1,000 percent again and again, but it'll definitely still be there. With all of the big changes happening to the mobile world in the near future, I'll be interested to see what these numbers look like a year from now. Will Windows Phone 7 catapult Microsoft higher on the list? Is MeeGo going to help Nokia retain their worldwide No. 1 spot? Will the Verizon iPhone have a major impact on these numbers? It's an exciting time to be involved at all in mobile, friends, so grab on and enjoy the ride.
UPDATE: NPD Group released their own Q3 2010 market share numbers today, although the results were largely the same as what we saw from Canalys. According to NPD, 44 percent of smartphones purchased were Android-powered, while Apple came in second with 23 percent. RIM came in third place, with 22 percent of the market.
