Android booms 1600% year-on-year in Europe

10 March, 2011 - Android is seeing some blistering growth figures when it comes to Western Europe, according to figures compiled by IDC.

The company’s European Mobile Phone Tracker shows that the mobile market grew 3.2% year-on-year, but the smartphone market, and Android in turn, showed far more significant growth.

Smartphones represented almost half of all mobiles sold at a figure of 44%, which was double the amount of the fourth quarter in 2009. Feature phones were down 25% compared to the previous year.

Apparently the most advertised and pushed devices were Android handsets from HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, along with the iPhone 4.

Android smartphones actually grew 1,580% year-on-year, shipping 7.9 million units, as opposed to just under half a million only a year ago.

This follows news from Tesco yesterday that Android phones are flying off its shelves. For the first time last month, Android handsets surpassed the sales of the iPhone 4 (when last year, the iPhone 4 had been selling double the amount of Android powered phones).

IDC also had some positive news for Windows Phone 7 – well, positive to an extent. Apparently the new Microsoft OS has witnessed growth of 18% year-on-year, although obviously that doesn’t look so hot when stacked up against Android’s figure.

Francisco Jeronimo, European Mobile Devices Research Manager at IDC, commented: “The last quarter of 2010 clearly shows the trends for the coming years in Western Europe. The Western European mobile phone market will be dominated by smartphones, and Android will be the king of the hill.”

“IDC estimates at that Android will grow at a 37% compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015 in Western Europe, overtaking the overall market growth in the period and that of its direct competitor, the iOS from Apple.”

He also noted that the recent Nokia and Microsoft deal would provide opportunities for Android and iOS to increase their user base. When Symbian is left out in the cold, all those current users won’t necessarily be leaping onto Windows Phone 7, or whatever other alternative OS Nokia might be pushing at that time.

Speaking of Nokia, IDC’s statistics did not bring good news for the company. Its market share slipped from 39% to 33% over the course of 2010, a drop driven by a 22% fall in feature phones. The company’s smartphones also underperformed, IDC noted, with the exception of the N8.