Android Outsells iPhone 5-to-2, Has Nearly 50 Percent of the Market

From DailyTech: Android's open platform and broad selection of hardware, thanks to liberal licensing, has proved a winning formula for Google Inc. and its hardware partners. Competitors like Apple, Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have been unable to keep up with the platform's wild growth.

According to [press release] market research firm Canalys, for every 2 iPhones sold, approximately five Android phones are now sold (1:2.5). This is another milestone for Google, who only recently heard the news that it was outselling Apple two to one globally.

The study looked at 56 countries and found Android to be the top platform in 35 of them. Its global market share is now at just under 50 percent, thanks to a 379 percent year-to-year growth in shipments. In Q2 2011 it shipped on an estimate 51.9 million smartphones, globally.

Google's smartphone operating system continues to soar after a quiet 2005 acquisition by Google and 2008 product launch. Google didn't pick up much momentum until 2009, when its partners began to release bleeding edge handsets like the "Droid" from Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI). Since then it's been unstoppable. However, threats loom from lawsuits from Apple and licensing demands from Microsoft.

Speaking of Apple, it posted impressive growth of its own, passing Finland's Nokia Oyj.(HEL:NOK1V), with 20.3 million units shipped. Apple is now the clear number one in terms of global sales by a single manufacturer.

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