InformationWeek reported that research group Gartner predicted that the Symbian's operating system will grab 30.2 percent market share in four years, driven by Nokia's standing as the world's largest mobile phone maker, selling product from the low end to the high end of the smartphone market.
Android phones — mostly found in the high end of the market and sold by multiple vendors — are expected to expand into the other tiers by 2014, when the OS will have a projected 29.6 percent share.
However the report pointed out that market share changes for the two operating systems will be heading in opposite directions over the five years with Android likely taking the lead.
“While Symbian will fall from 46.9 percent in 2009, Android will soar from 3.9 percent, as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola expand the OS into phones with different price points," the report said.
"In terms of market share, Apple's iOS will appear lackluster with a 14.9 percent share in 2014, compared to a 14.4 percent share in 2009. However, the numbers are deceiving, because iOS is driven by a different business strategy than Symbian and Android."
The entire market is expected to increase dramatically from 172.4 million smartphones in 2009 to 875.6 million units by 2014. And where Symbian and Android are expected to be found in all market segments, Apple is expected to keep its iOS-based iPhone at the high end of the market.
Over the five-year period, the number of iPhones sold is expected to rise from 24.9 million to 130.4 million units, "which is a pretty remarkable number for one vendor," Gartner analyst Hugues De La Vergne said.
The remaining two leading smartphone operating systems — Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry OS and Microsoft's Windows Phone, formerly Windows Mobile — are predicted to have a smaller share of the market in four years than last year.
The BlackBerry OS will account for 11.7 percent of the smartphone market in 2014 from 19.9 percent last year but the number will increase from 34.4 million in 2009 to 102.6 million in 2014.
The report also pointed out that the Windows Phone will have a far smaller share of the market. The operating system will be found in 3.9 percent of all smartphones in 2014, compared to 8.7 percent in 2009 translating to 15 million units last year and up to 34.5 million in 2014.