According to recent statistics published by Net Applications, market share for the month of Febuary, Google's answer to the mobile OS - Android, has been making vast in-roads against the former dominance of Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS. In fact, the two operating systems now jostle side by side for total market share in mobile browsing, and surprisngly, there isn't much to separate the two.
In the four months since the USA release of Android last year in October, Android has made great strides to grab 6.15% of the mobile browsing market. This short burst of activity and user interest in Google's mobile offering bodes well for fans of the HTC Dream, which we wrote about here.
By comparison, Windows Mobile, which has been out for a few years now, is hovering at just 6.91% of total share on the Web, less than a percentage point higher than Android and probably not the result CEO Steve Ballmer was looking for.
Of course, Android and Symbian look like minnows compared to the dominance of the iPhone. At just over 66% of the total smartphone share - the iPhone's Web abilities is something Steve Jobs can be proud of, regardless of limitations (cut and paste anyone?).
The real question still lingers - when Android starts to pop up in more phones (there are rumours that LG and Samsung will launch Android-based mobiles soon), will its recent growth translate into long-term market strength?
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| Click to enlarge. Image Source: Net Applications |