Report: Android to win half of smartphone market

The arrival of a wide range of Android devices will ultimately mean that Google's mobile operating system will control largely half of the smartphone market, according to a new analyst report.

Apple's iOS will probably top out with market share of 20 percent to 30 percent in the long run, according to the Piper Jaffray report released on Tuesday. Android and Apple will squeeze out rivals such as Nokia and Research In Motion, which will battle for the 20 percent share left on the table, the analyst firm predicted.

"We estimate Google will control 14.9 percent of the smartphone market through Android in 2010, growing to 23.2 percent in 2012. For Apple, we expect the iPhone 15.9 percent of the smartphone market in 2010, growing to 17.6 percent in 2012. However, we believe the question is where the two platforms top out in terms of market share," Piper Jaffray said in the report.

Android will grab half of the smartphone market ultimately just because of its product cycle and multiple partners, according to Piper Jaffray's analysts, who said the HTC, Motorola and Samsung Android device barrage is impressive. In the end, RIM and Nokia will cave and adopt Android as an operating system and give the operating system a massive market share boost, the firm predicted.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Android to control half of smartphone market, say analysts on ZDNet.com.