Google Android handsets outpaces Windows Mobile sale

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Mobile phones running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system has been outpaced by the one that run Google’s Android operating system in terms of sales for the first time. Android-based handsets sale accounted for all most 10 per cent of all smartphones sold worldwide in the first quarter of this year.

The percentage reflects a huge increase in on the 1.6 per cent market share it enjoyed at the same time last year. 6.8 per cent of all handset sales in the same period were accounted by Windows Mobile devices, down from 10.2 per cent in the first quarter of last year.

In another research published earlier this month, Android-based phones accounted for 28 per cent of all smart phone sales in North America, compared to the Apple iPhone’s 21 per cent market share. The market continued to be dominated by BlackBerry devices, made by Research in Motion though, with a 36 per cent share of the US smartphone market in the first quarter of this year.

It was in October 2008, that the first Android-based handset went on sale and since then a host of phone makers, including HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson, have released handsets running the Google-backed, open-source OS. Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt, in the beginning of the year claimed that around 60,000 Android devices were being shipped every day.

According to analysts, there was “momentum” behind the Android platform, helped in no small part by aggressive and high-profile advertising campaigns in the United States showcasing the latest handsets running the operating system.