IDC predicts rise of Android and Windows Phone
IDC predictions

In today’s fast moving world it’s almost impossible to predict where the mobile market will be in 5 years, nevertheless IDC gives it a shot.

The recently released report from International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that Android and Windows Mobile Operating Systems will be the dominant players in the smartphone and mobile casino gambling markets in the near future. IDC is one of the leading authorities in forecasting future trends, market intelligence and events for the information, consumer and telecommunications technology sectors.

According to the IDC forecast, over 450 million handhelds will be shipped in 2011, compared to 303.4 million phones last year. In 2011 IDC expects Android to constitute 39.5% of the market, Symbian – 20.9%, Apple – 15.7%, BlackBerry – 14.9% and Windows Phone – 5.5%. These predictions are unlikely to shock nor surprise, yet the year 2015 forecast is quite interesting to both casual users and industry experts.

IDC published the following estimates for 2015: Android – 45.4%, Windows Phone – 20.9%, Apple – 15.3%, BlackBerry – 13.7% and Symbian – 0.2%. Predictions for Windows Phone and Symbian are quite understandable, taking into consideration Microsoft’s recent partnership with Nokia, which is likely to start utilizing Windows Phone 7 as their primary operating system since 2012. As the numbers show, Windows in 2015 will ‘borrow’ all of symbian’s users. To pay 1 billion dollars for a 20.9% share of the world smartphone market is a steal and a very astute move on the part of Microsoft.

However, relatively no change in the Apple market share seems strange. Increasing popularity of its devices including both iPhone and iPad is likely to continue. Many experts agree that iPad and iPhone mobile gambling have some of the industry’s coolest designs, and are the desired platforms for many players.

There are no surprises in the 2015 forecast for the Android OS. The open platform has many followers with an easily accesible app marketplace for both end users (with free apps) as well as developers (with an easy process to list newly created apps). This is sure to put the ‘cherry on top’ for Google Android’s popular operating system. The future of Android mobile gambling also is bright, with an increased number of software development companies dedicating more resources towards creating games for the platform.