UK sees Android OS sales more than triple

Google’s Android operating system seemingly goes from strength to strength, according to global market research firm Gfk.

The latest Gfk report shows that the robotic OS has seen its influence grow massively over the past three months, with sales of Android handsets up a more than impressive 350%.

Android’s UK market share of contract mobiles has expanded from just 3% in the first quarter of 2010, to 13.2% in the second quarter, more than quadrupling.

Gfk also revealed that phones powered by an advanced OS – that’s one capable of running independent applications – grew substantially in the contract market, too. In the first quarter of this year, 55% of phones ran an advanced OS. The latest monthly data from June suggests that 73% do now, a telling shift.

And a fair bit of that increase must be down to the purchase of new Android phones, judging from the 350% sales figures that Google managed to achieve.

An analyst at Gfk, Megan Baldock, commented: “The figures suggest an increasing number of consumers are now asking for Android handsets by name. Operating Systems are no longer simply a by-product but a key selling point in their own right.”