Android To Dominate Mobile Markets In 2011

The telecoms industry will experience some major shifts in terms of smartphone dominance during 2011, with Android overtaking the iPhone and Meego stepping into the limelight before the end of the year, according to analyst firm Ovum.

Smartphone subscriptions will continue to grow throughout the year, as mobile operating systems vie for dominance, said Ovum analyst Tony Cripps. However, take-up in emerging markets could slow, as competition intensifies.

Despite its quiet start in October last year, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is poised to be the fastest-growing platform in 2011, given its “unique – and very desirable – new take on the smartphone user interface,” and its “evident design and user experience nous”.

However, Cripps predicted that Android will become the real winner, as the Google-driven platform looks set to crush Apple’s iOS with massive product sales by the end of 2011.

Meego: the dark horse

“The telecoms landscape is changing rapidly,” said Jan Dawson, Ovum’s chief telecoms analyst. This year, for example, Nokia-Intel’s Meego operating system is likely to grab a big slice of the booming smartphone market.

Although the platform is not expected to be fully developed until 2012, Cripps believes that Meego could prove to be an important driver of platform trends this year, and that the Finnish handset manufacturer will roll out “a head-turning” Meego-powered smartphone before year-end 2011.

Meanwhile, mobile and wireless analyst Dr. J. Gerry Purdy suggested that smartphones could become the focus of “the entire wireless ecosystem,” surpassing both PC shipments and feature phone sales in Europe as well as the US.

Tablets will also become very popular and, according to Dr. Purdy, generate more application stores that focus specifically on the tablet form factor.