Worldwide Smartphone Use To Grow By Almost 50% In 2011

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 March 2011, 07:43 CDT

As more consumers and enterprise users switch from their feature phones, the smartphone market is expected to grow by 49.2%, according to IDC data.

The data revealed that 450 million smartphones will be shipped in 2011 by vendors, compared to the 303.4 million units shipped in 2010. IDC predicts that the smartphone market will grow more than four times faster than the general mobile phone market as users upgrade to more advanced features.

Manufacturers are constantly launching a stream of new models and features to capture the strong consumer demand for smartphones.

The IDC states that the “battle for mind and market share has also resulted in stiff competition among smartphone operating systems.”

“Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010,” says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

Llamas says, “For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party.” There is a lot more to come as “vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers,” especially with first-time users.

A strong growth for Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform is predicted by IDC, since it has recently been adopted by Finland’s Nokia.

This new partnership will bring together Nokia’s hardware capabilities with Windows Phone’s differentiated platform. The first devices are expected to launch by 2012. IDC expects Windows Phone to be the number 2 operating system worldwide, just behind Google’s Android.

“Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences,” Llamas says.

In 2011, the IDC reports that Android will have 39.5% of the worldwide smartphone operating system market. This is followed by 20.9 percent from Symbian, 15.7% from Apple’s iOS, 14.9% from Research in Motion’s Blackberry and 5.5% from Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile.

IDC has Android leading at the top with 45.4% of the market share in 2015, while Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile will get 20.9%, Apple’s iOS with 15.3% and Blackberry with 13.7%.