London, Sep 24 (IANS) Half a billion people will be using the Google Android operating system by 2015, according to the analysts Informa.
‘This growth will be driven by the ongoing competition between top tier manufacturers and challengers such as Google, RIM, Apple and Microsoft who are racing to create the best possible user experience at lower pricing points,’ Informa said.
Nokia will lose out most from the trend, according to Informa principal analyst Malik Kamal-Saadi.
‘Informa expects that the market share of Symbian, from total smartphone users, to drop significantly from 53 percent in 2009 to 32 percent in 2015.
‘In terms of sales, smartphones powered by Android are expected to surpass these of Symbian as early as 2012,’ he said, reports the Telegraph.
Kamal-Saadi said Nokia will come under increasing pressure to change their strategy if innovation does not materialise on the Symbian platform.
‘If Nokia joins the Android party, the support of this eco-system by all key players could help the mobile smartphone industry to potentially commoditise its software business much like what Microsoft did in the PC world,’ he said.
If Nokia continues in its current strategy, it would be addressing ‘niche markets,’ Kamal-Saadi added.
