Android takes 13% share of UK contract market
Sales of Android phones in the UK have more than trebled over the first half of 2010 – according to market-tracker Gfk. Gfk said that although contract market sales grew by less than 1% overall, sales of Android phones increased by 350% from Q1 to Q2.
The growth boosted the market share of phones with the Android OS to 13% during Q2 2010, from just 3% in Q1 2010. Sales of other phones based on what Gfk terms advanced OS grew 3.8%. Sales of non-advanced OS-based phones dropped 25%.
That meant that as Android put ten points on its market share, other advanced OS phones added just a point overall, growing from 525 to 53.5%. Non advbanced OS phones dropped from a 45% market share to 33.3%.
A Gfk spokesperson said that the company could not mention individual companies by name, as many of them are clients. But it seems likely that HTC launches of phones based on Android drove much of the growth. HTC said that global sales of devices running Android increased 41% during the first six months of 2010. Samsung, ZTE and others have also launched Android-based devices.
Overall, Gfk said that Phones with an advanced Operating System* (OS) continue to grow in the contract market, reaching 66.7% in Q2 2010 compared to 55% in Q1 2010. Growth has been continuous since 2010 began and is expected to rise consistently throughout the rest of the year; Gfk’s latest monthly data shows that in June, phones with advanced OS represented 73.5% of the contract market.
“The figures suggest an increasing number of consumers are now asking for Android handsets by name,” commented GfK analyst Megan Baldock. “Operating Systems are no longer simply a by-product but a key selling point in their own right.”