Symbian still top European smartphone platform, Android catching up

The latest figures from comScore show the Symbian smartphone platform is dropping like a rock but still tops in the top five European markets. Android is grabbing the bulk of the Symbian defectors with a 16.2 percent growth in that market year over year. The new numbers show the Microsoft platforms (Windows Mobile and Windows Phone) are not selling in the EU, losing almost five percent share over the same period despite the launch of the first WP7 phones.

These numbers cover smartphone ownership in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy through July 2011. A key takeaway from these statistics is how Android growth in the EU is fueled solely by those leaving the Symbian world, with the 16.2 percent growth in Android nearly matching the 16.1 percent drop in Symbian. Other platforms (iOS, RIM) had small growth but Microsoft and Symbian were the big losers with the former seeing a drop of 4.8 percent.

While the big winner in Europe is Android with that big rise in market share, HTC and Samsung own a full 66.3 percent of that Android market. HTC is king in the UK with over twice as many Android phones in customer hands than the nearest competitor Samsung.