Tom Kang, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, “We forecast global Android smartphone shipments to grow an impressive 900 percent annually during 2009. The Android mobile operating system from Google gained early traction in the United States in the second half of 2008 and it is gradually spreading its presence into Europe and Asia during 2009. Android is expanding from a low base and it is consequently outgrowing the iPhone OS from Apple, which we estimate will grow at a relatively lower 79 percent annually in 2009.”

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “”Android has fast been winning healthy support among operators, vendors and developers. A relatively low-cost licensing model, its semi-open-source structure and Google’s support for cloud services have encouraged companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T Mobile, Vodafone and others to support the Android operating system. Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years.”

These findings are based on a survey of over 2800 wireless device owners in the US and Western Europe. The survey showed that mobile consumers are also willing to pay for a video camera, music player and removable memory cards.

“Strategy Analytics research shows that over 60% of all respondents would be willing to pay extra for a quality camera on their mobile device,” commented Chris Schreiner, Senior User Experience Analyst at Strategy Analytics. “This desire for imaging features prevails across all age ranges in both regions.” Kevin Nolan, Vice President of the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice, added, “Cameras, video cameras and music players are quickly becoming table stakes when consumers shop for mobile devices. They also requested additional memory in order to store this media.”

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Despite the financial crisis, mobile phone shipments in the United States reached 47.4 million units during Q3 2008, up 6.2 percent from 44.6 million in Q3 2007. Attractive bundling schemes from operators, healthy subsidies and aggressive pre-stocking by distributors ahead of the holiday season helped to lift volumes.”

Bonny Joy, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, “Samsung had a strong quarter. Samsung registered 22.4% marketshare in the US during Q3 2008, enabling it to reach first position for the first time in its history. Samsung’s growing retail presence and an attractive handset portfolio for each of the big four operators proved crucial in grabbing the prestigious title of the number one vendor in the world’s single largest handset market.”

Other findings from this Strategy Analytics report, Vendor Share: Samsung Goes Top in North America in Q3 2008, include:

• RIM maintained a double-digit marketshare for the second straight quarter. Its balanced portfolio of enterprise and consumer devices is seeing solid demand;
• Apple reached 6th position in the USA during Q3 2008. AT&T subsidized the iPhone heavily down to lower retail price-points, driving a spike in demand.