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San Francisco, Aug 9 (IANS): Eighty-five percent of all smartphones shipped worldwide during the second quarter of 2012 were powered by Google's Android and Apple's iOS operating systems, research results show.
The Android mobile system amassed a commanding 68.1 percent market share of all smartphones shipped during the quarter, market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) said in a report Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
Apple's iOS accounted for 16.9 percent of the market share, while Blackberry and Symbian, two pioneers and former leaders of the smartphone market, both saw their market shares fall below five percent, IDC said.
"Android continues to fire on all cylinders," Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends programme, said in a statement.
"The market was entreated to several flagship models from Android's handset partners, prices were well within reach to meet multiple budgetary needs, and the user experience from both Google and its handset partners boosted Android smartphones' utility far beyond simple telephony," said Llamas.
IDC pointed out that Android's success in the market can be directly traced to Samsung, which accounted for 44 percent of all Android smartphones shipped in the quarter.
As for Apple, demand for iPhone during the second quarter has cooled off as the iPhone 4S has been available since last October and speculations about the next generation iPhone let some consumers hold off their purchases.
Citing the research results, IDC analysts said the current mobile market is unquestionably a two-horse race due to the dominance of Android and iOS.
"With much of the world's mobile phone user base still operating feature phones, the smartphone OS market share battle is far from over," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC.
"There is still room for some mobile OS competitors to gain share, although such efforts will become increasingly difficult as smartphone penetration increases," Restivo added.
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