All Canadian carriers have or at least will have an Android-powered device in their lineup (Koodo is bringing on the LG Optimus One within the next 10 days). Rogers was the first carrier to bring Android to Canada with the HTC Dream and Magic and the popularity of this mobile OS has soared over the last year. According to a report by research firm IDC shows that in Q4 2010 Android owned 26% of the Smartphone market in Canada, up from 6% the previous year. RIM and Apple both have about 30% while others such as Nokia’s Symbian, HP’s Palm webOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone make up for the remaining numbers.
IDC states that by 2012 Android will take over and become the most popular mobile platform in Canada. We reached out to Brandon Mensinga, senior mobile analyst for IDC Canada, and he stated that “We expect 2011 to mark the year when smartphones enter a peak phase of life-cycle adoption and graduate to “main street” in terms of target audience. Smartphones passed the 50% threshold for shipments in Q410 and we expect that trend to continue. The smartphone platform market share mix is expected to shift significantly over the next few years. We expect Android growth to surge, iOS growth to moderate, BlackBerry OS growth to stall, and Windows Phone 7 to find a niche.”
No official word of how many smartphones or how many Android devices have been shipped in Canada but another interesting stat that the Financial Post uncovered was about Samsung. They stated that “Between the third and fourth quarters of 2010, Samsung’s smartphone shipments grew 200%. Samsung smartphones now account for more than 34% of all the Android powered smartphones in Canada”… majority of these have to be the Galaxy S family of devices (Fascinate, Captivate, Vibrant). This number will increase over the next month as the Nexus S will officially become available.
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