Google’s operating system for cell phones has now become the market leader in the industry, stealing the title from the Finnish firm Nokia for the first time, according to a British research firm.
Android, the name of the Google operating system for cell phones, has now overtaken its Finnish rival, with research firm Canalys, which is based in Reading, England, having been shipped in almost thirty three and a half cell phones in just the three months through December, an increase of almost five million from the same time period the year before.
“Google only wins with this,” claims Canalys analyst Peter Cunningham. “There will be more eyes on the mobile Web and more eyes seeing their advertisements.”
Cell phones using the Android operating system only appeared on the market around two years ago, with many big name manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola and LG using the system in their products. Google aren’t having it all their own way however – Nokia still remains the world’s leading maker of cell phones, at least according to Boston based research firm Strategy Analytics, owning no less than thirty one percent of the overall global market, with almost one and a half billion customers. That being said, the loss of the leadership title on terms of operating systems to Google’s has seen shares fall amid rumors of an imminent shake-up at the company. “Nokia has its work cut out to stop the rot,” says Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawson. “They have to do something radical.”