70% of the Smart Phone Share Has Been Taken Up by Android in 2012, Q4

Maybe it's easier being green than we thought. We suspected Android would do well in smartphone market share when Strategy Analytics had Samsung surging ahead in the fourth quarter of 2012, but the firm's newer breakdown of estimated share by OS shows an even larger jump for Google's overall platform -- from 51.3 percent in fall 2011 to 70.1 percent one year later. Apple was knocked down slightly to 22 percent, although it's mostly other platforms that took the bruising. Collectively, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Phone and other platforms sank from 25.1 percent of the smartphone space in late 2011 to just 7.9 points as 2012 drew to a close. When just two companies' platforms make up 92 percent of smartphones, it's safe to call the result a duopoly, like Strategy Analytics does -- even if others aren't so content with the idea. News via Engadget.com