android | linux | palm | symbian

Research firm IDC in a recent report forecast that the Symbian mobile operating system will continue to retain its leadership in the market over the next four years while Android will have the fastest growth in term of sales during the same period.

Key findings of the report:

• Symbian will retain its leadership position worldwide throughout the forecast period. Due primarily to the strength of Nokia in markets outside of the United States, Symbian will continue to lead other mobile operating systems.

• Android will experience the fastest growth of any mobile operating system. Starting from a very small base of just 690,000 units in 2008, total Android-powered shipments will reach 68.0 million units by 2013, making for a CAGR of 150.4%. Android will benefit from having a growing footprint of handset vendors supporting it and will finish second to Symbian in shipments by 2013.

 The research firm claims that worldwide shipments of converged mobile devices, also known as smartphones, will surpass 390 million units, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.9% for the 2009–2013 forecast period.

 Stephen D. Drake, vice president, Mobility and Telecom at IDC said that Linux shipments will struggle throughout the forecast period while webOS will capture only a limited market share due to limited deployment and availability of devices across multiple carriers.