In a recent poll held by PC Advisor, a massive 49 percent of respondents claimed that Google Android is their favourite smartphone operating system. This comes as a shock, since Apple’s iPhone, which received only 26 percent of the vote, has been widely accepted as the most desirable smartphone on the market for some time.
Not a million miles away from the 26 percent iOS received is the 17 percent Windows Phone accumulated. This is particularly interesting as, according to a recent Kantar ComTech survey,Windows Phone accounts for only 2.5 percent of the current smartphone market, while Apple’s iOS holds 28.7 percent and Android 48.5 percent. The times are a changing, perhaps?
RIM, the Canadian company that is taking a kicking from all angles right now, won’t be comforted by the fact that only six percent still has faith in its current offerings. This is another intriguing outcome from the poll, since BlackBerry holds a more than respectable 17.1 percent of the UK smartphone market at present. One would have to conclude that the high-teens figure can only go downwards from here, unless RIM rapidly rethinks its offerings.
The remaining two percent of the poll went to the category ‘other’, which must be the final nail in the coffin for Nokia’s tragically unloved Symbian platform.
Now, here comes the interesting bit. Thanks to the genius of web analytics, we at PC Advisor are able to match our mobile-usage statistics with the outcome of this poll; we’ve found a contrast in terms of what people use and what they like.
iOS is the smartphone operating system that accessed the PC Advisor website the most, with a figure that is almost nine times higher than Android PC Advisor users, which is the site’s second most popular mobile operating system. This, when combined with the poll data, suggests that Android is now a more desirable platform, even among iOS users, and that it should pull further away from Apple’s iOS platform.
The same can be said for Windows Phones. Our site stats show us that Windows Phone users visit PC Advisor in insignificant numbers when compared to Android and Apple smartphone users. Yet, in the poll, Windows Phone performed well. It would therefore be reasonable to suggest that current Windows Phone users are extremely satisfied with their smartphone’s operating system, and those who are not using a Windows Phone at present plan to do so in the near future. See: Windows Phone 8 release date and specs.
