20 Million Android Devices Sold in Q3 [REPORT]

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Symbian and RIM are hanging on, both showing growth as far as the number of devices sold is concerned, but the table above makes it painfully obvious that Google's Android and Apple's iOS have the momentum, and this is unlikely to change in the near future. On the other hand, the only clear loser is Microsoft, whose market share fell from 7.9% in the third quarter of 2009 to 2.8% in Q3 2010, with only 2.2 million devices sold.

Gartner sees two ways to succeed in the smartphone market, one fitting the description of Apple's iOS and the other of Android. “Any platform that fails to innovate quickly — either through a vibrant multi-player ecosystem or clear vision of a single controlling entity — will lose developers, manufacturers, potential partners and ultimately users,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. Unfortunately, RIM, Nokia and Microsoft's smartphone strategy have only recently starting to take shape resembling one or the other, and it'll take time for them to catch up with Apple and Google.