It has taken Android only four years to go from zero share to 75 percent of the smartphone market. New figures released from market research firm IDC tell us that Android accounted for three out of four devices shipped in the third quarter of 2012.  With 181 million device shipped over the time frame, this sees Android grabbing nearly 136 million of those.

Where are the other players in all of this?  Apple comes in second at very distant 14.9 percent of the market, followed by BlackBerry (4.3 percent), Symbian (2.3 percent ), and various Windows builds (2.0 percent).

Say what you will about market share not being the same as profitability, but the fact remains that Android is growing and growing and growing.  Maybe it’s not going to make one singular company rich a la Apple, but it’s a rising tide.  As you know, rising tides lift all boats.  In this case  boats are carriers, handset makers, accessory manufacturers, developers, and even bloggers.

IDC