Research Says Android Led Worldwide Smartphone Shipments in Q4 2010

New data from analyst firm Canalys showed that shipments of Google Android-based phones topped those of Nokia's second-ranked Symbian platform in Q4 2010, highlighting growing opportunities for Android game developers. Worldwide shipments for Android devices during the fourth quarter last year hit 33.3 million units to capture 33 percent of new market share. That's up 615 percent from 4.7 million shipped worldwide in Q4 2009. The explosive growth could mean greater opportunity and wider audiences for mobile game developers in the year ahead. Android shipments edged out long-reigning Nokia, whose Symbian OS saw shipments of 31 million units during the quarter for a market share of 31 percent. Apple's popular iPhone iOS had shipments of 16.2 million during the quarter to capture 16 percent market share during the three months. RIM shipped 14.6 million Blackberry OS devices (14.4 percent market share) and Microsoft shipped 3.1 million (3.1 percent market share) Windows Phone devices. Total worldwide smartphone shipments during Q4 2010 were 101.2 million units, up 88.6 percent from 53.7 million units shipped during the same quarter a year prior, Canalys said. Full-year smartphone shipments were "fractionally below" 300 million. The U.S. led all other nations in terms of smartphone shipments during Q4, more than doubling the size of the Chinese smartphone market, Canalys said. But the Chinese market saw smartphone market growth of 134 percent year-on-year versus 64 percent growth in the U.S. during the quarter. In the U.S. specifically, Android saw shipments of 12.1 million units during Q4, nearly three times that of Blackberry devices. "The US landscape will shift dramatically this coming year, as a result of the Verizon-Apple agreement," said Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd in a statement. "Verizon will move its focus away from the Droid range, but the overall market impact will mean less carrier-exclusive deals, while increasing the AT&T opportunity for Android vendors, such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung."