Android accounts for 75 percent market share; Windows Phone leapfrogs BlackBerry
Android now accounts for 75 percent of the smartphone platform market, according to new figures released by IDC on Thursday.
Figures released by the analytics firm say Android phone makers and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million handhelds during the first quarter of 2013, up more than half 59 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
Combined, the duopoly of Google's Android and Apple's iOS combined reaches 92.3 percent of all smartphone operating system shipments during the quarter.
Android rules the roost again with 162.1 million shipments, according to the figures, while Apple's iOS share — accounting for iPhones only — reached 37.4 million shipments during the quarter.
For Microsoft, there's good news. Windows Phone has now surpassed BlackBerry's declining market share and now reigns in the third-place behind Android and iOS respectively. Windows Phone accounted for 7 million shipments, taking 3.2 percent of the market share, while BlackBerry took just 6.3 million shipments, with 2.9 percent of the market share.
Shooting up by more than 133 percent on the same quarter a year ago, the platform has seen a higher increase in share than any other mobile platform year-over-year.
According to IDC, Nokia accounted for 79 percent of the Windows Phone shipments during the quarter, suggesting the relationship between Microsoft and the phone maker was working well.
But it's not all bad news for BlackBerry. The data shows that BlackBerry 10 devices have already hit one million shipped milestone in its first quarter of availability.
"Windows Phone claiming the third spot is a first and helps validate the direction taken by Microsoft and key partner Nokia," said IDC senior research analyst Kevin Restivo in prepared remarks. "Given the relatively low volume generated, the Windows Phone camp will need to show further gains to solidify its status as an alterative to Android or iOS.