Android Smartphone Shipments Up 886%Android Smartphone Shipments Up 886%

Android smartphones, collectively, have surpassed the Apple iPhone and Research In Motion BlackBerry to become the leader in the U.S. market, a research firm says.

Devices based on the Google OS represented a 34% share of the U.S. market in the second quarter, compared to 32.1% for the BlackBerry and 21.7% for the iPhone, Canalys reported Monday. Android smartphones soared to the top on a growth rate of 851% year to year.

Driving Android sales were popular products from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG. Globally, shipments of Android smartphones grew 886% in the quarter year to year, compared to 61% for the iPhone and 41% for the BlackBerry.

"The latest release of our detailed and complete country-level smart phone shipment data for Q2 2010 clearly reveals the impressive momentum Android is gaining in markets around the world," Canalys analyst Chris Jones said in a statement.

Worldwide, the smartphone market grew 64%. While the United States remained the largest smart phone market in the world, its growth rate was considerably less, reaching only 41%. U.S. shipments accounted for 23% of the global market, or 14.7 million units.,

China was the second largest smartphone market for the sixth consecutive quarter, with shipments of 6.9 million units representing 11% of the worldwide market. While Nokia smartphones based on the Symbian OS continued to dominate the market, Android vendors, such as Motorola and Samsung and local vendors Dopod, Lenovo and Huawei, achieved "promising volumes on the platform." Android went from virtually zero a year ago to hold a 7% market share in the quarter, Canalys said.

"With a population of 1.3 billion, China represents a market with enormous growth potential and Canalys expects Android to be among the platforms that will drive growth in the coming quarters and years," Canalys analyst Ty Lau said.

In the meantime, Nokia remained the leader in the worldwide smartphone market, shipping 23.8 million units, or 41% more than a year ago, to achieve a 38% share. The BlackBerry was second with an 18% share, while the iPhone was third with 13%.