The current mobile landscape may dramatically change within the next few years as current leader Research in Motion tumbles in market-share and Android and Microsoft come to dominate.
Research firm Gathner said on Sunday that Google's Android will dominate global smartphone software, and surprisingly. Microsoft's Windows Phone software would surge to second place.
The reason? Microsoft's recent tie up with another cell-phone maker.
The company said in a statement, "Gartner has revised its forecast of Windows Phone's market share upward, solely by viture of Microsoft's alliance with Nokia".
The partnership will give Microsoft access to Nokia's massive global distribution chain and allow it to piggy back the world's largest handset maker.
Windows Phone devices will hold only 5 per cent of the market in all of 2011, but will jump to nearly 20 per cent in 2015.
The real winner will be the Android platform, which will hold nearly half of the smartphone market in 2012, then remain above 48 per cent through 2015 when Gartner projects that 1.1 billion smartphones will be sold worldwide.
Apple's iPhone will garner 19.4 per cent of the smartphone market in 2011, making it second behind Anroid, and will hold that second-place spot into 2014.
But in 2015, iPhone will dip to third place with 17.2 per cent of the 1.1 billion smartphones sold that year.
The reason? Microsoft's recent tie up with another cell-phone maker.
The company said in a statement, "Gartner has revised its forecast of Windows Phone's market share upward, solely by viture of Microsoft's alliance with Nokia".
The partnership will give Microsoft access to Nokia's massive global distribution chain and allow it to piggy back the world's largest handset maker.
Windows Phone devices will hold only 5 per cent of the market in all of 2011, but will jump to nearly 20 per cent in 2015.
The real winner will be the Android platform, which will hold nearly half of the smartphone market in 2012, then remain above 48 per cent through 2015 when Gartner projects that 1.1 billion smartphones will be sold worldwide.
Apple's iPhone will garner 19.4 per cent of the smartphone market in 2011, making it second behind Anroid, and will hold that second-place spot into 2014.
But in 2015, iPhone will dip to third place with 17.2 per cent of the 1.1 billion smartphones sold that year.
