Statistics show that only 305 million units of smartphones were launched in 2010. This year, as per the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker the worldwide smartphone market is forecast to grow by 55 %, with vendors shipping a total of 472 billion handsets in 2011.
The figure is expected to double by the end of 2015. This increase is apparently fueled by the fall of average sale prices, increased phone utilities, lower cost data plans and much more that make smartphones an easy buy for a lot of people.
“The smartphone floodgates are open wide. Mobile phone users around the world are turning in their ‘talk-and-text’ devices for smartphones as these devices allow users to perform daily tasks like shopping and banking from anywhere. The growth trend is particularly pronounced in emerging markets where adoption is still in its early days. As a result, the growth in regions such as Asia/Pacific and Latin America, will be dramatic over the coming years,” specified Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
According to IDC, Android may own 38.9% of the market share by the second half of 2011. This increase is due to the list of vendors who have included Android as a part of their production strategies. By 2015, it could have 43.8% of the share.
Symbian is slated to remain in power until 2010 with a 20.6% share until Nokia is committed to support the OS. In the ongoing forecast period, it may lose out on some share and carry a 0.1% share by 2015, as Nokia has plans of transiting to Windows Phone in due course.
“Underpinning smartphone growth is the rapidly shifting operating system landscape. End-users are becoming more sophisticated about what kinds of experiences are offered by the different operating systems. Taking this as their cue, operating system developers will strive for more intuitive and seamless experiences, but will also look to differentiate themselves along key features and characteristics,” added Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Technology and Trends team.
Windows Phone 7 is touted to benefit from Nokia’s support considering its position. However, till then the OS may manage a small share of 3.8% as the Mango version is touted to hit markets in late 2011. Nevertheless, the OS can probably reach the second position and more than 20% share in 2015 assuming Nokia support is smooth.
iOS stood third while stepping into 2011, it is now expected to carry on at a moderate pace with 18.2% share through the last quarter owing to the growing smartphone market. Though an initial phase of decline is expected from these quarters, it may own a 20.3% market by the end of 2015.
BlackBerry OS is slated to carry on with its market position of number four with 14.2% in 2011. The overall position of the OS may grow with a 13.4% share by 2015, though a temporary market decline may occur.
The other smartphone operating systems could get hold of 4.3% of the share in 2011, while in the coming years up to 2015 they may get a 5.5% share.