Differences between users of different mobile operating systems

"Android users are more likely than users of other platforms to visit education sites.
Windows Phone users are more likely to visit email and communications sites, compared to users of other platforms.
Feature phone users are far and away the most likely to visit social-network and community sites on their handsets, with Android users being the least likely.
BlackBerry (RIM) users are more likely than anyone else to visit computer and sports sites.
Android users are the most likely to view “Music, video and media” sites whereas iPhone users are least likely to view sites in that category.
Across all platforms, the top 2 categories (other than “Unclassified”) are: “Social networks & community” and “News & information”."
Source:  Taken from Opera's State of the Mobile Web report, 27th October 2011
Note - based on behaviour of people who use the Opera browser on their phone

Smartphone operating system shares in Europe

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Source:  Press release from comScore, based on their MobiLens service, 13th September 2011
Based on UK, France, Germany, Italy & Spain only

US smartphone operating system & manufacturer share

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Source:  Data from Nielsen for June 2011, using pre-pay users only, NielsenWire, 28th July 2011

Nearly 25% of phones sold in Q1 2011 were smartphones

"Worldwide mobile communication device sales to end users totaled 427.8 million units in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 19 percent from the first quarter of 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphones continued to outpace the rest of the market, and a newly competitive mid-tier smartphone market will drive smartphones into mass adoption and accelerate this trend.
“Smartphones accounted for 23.6 percent of overall sales in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 85 percent year-on-year,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “This share could have been even higher, but manufacturers announced a number of high-profile devices during the first quarter of 2011 that would not ship until the second quarter of 2011. We believe some consumers delayed their purchases to wait for these models.”
Overall, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan will have a smaller effect on the mobile communication devices market than initially anticipated. There is currently about six to seven weeks worth of inventory of finished products in the channel and about four weeks worth of inventory for components. Gartner estimates that manufacturers' sales into the channel will drop in the second quarter of 2011, while sales through to consumers will be flat."
[...]

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"Android and Apple's iOS continued to dominate the smartphone operating system (OS) wars (see Table 2). However, the big news in the first quarter of 2011 was Nokia's strategic alliance with Microsoft on Windows Phone 7, and the retirement of Symbian. “This will precipitate a competitors’ rush to capture Symbian's market share in the midtier,” said Ms. Cozza."

Source:  Press release from Gartner, 19th May 2011

Actual & predicted smartphone operating system sales & shares 2010-2014

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"Worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7 percent increase from 2010, according to Gartner Inc. By the end of 2011, Android will move to become the most popular operating system (OS) worldwide and will build on its strength to account for 49 percent of the smartphone market by 2012 (see Table 1).
Sales of open OS* devices will account for 26 percent of all mobile handset device sales in 2011, and are expected to surpass the 1 billion mark by 2015, when they will account for 47 percent of the total mobile device market."

Source:  Gartner press release, 7th April 2011

Note - I normally steer well clear of predictions, but I've included this one because it's a good source and also it's a nice clear table

The Android operating system grew by nearly 900% in 2010

"In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, ''Android grew 888.8 percent in 2010 and moved to the No. 2 position. Android sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 continued to be driven by broad availability of many high-end products from HTC (Desire range, Incredible and EVO), Samsung (Galaxy S) and Motorola (Droid X, Droid 2).
Symbian’s market share dropped further in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 32.6 percent or 32.6 million units. This allowed Android to overtake Nokia's Symbian unit sales during the fourth quarter of 2010. However, the Symbian OS is also used by Fujitsu and Sharp as well as in legacy products from Sony Ericsson and Samsung. “This aggregated volume kept Symbian slightly ahead of Android,” said Ms. Cozza.
The wider availability of the iPhone 4 helped Apple to maintain its share of the smartphone market to 16.0 percent in the fourth quarter 2010 and led the iPhone OS platform to reach the No. 4 position in 2010. "As a platform, iOS is in excellent shape," said Ms. Milanesi. With every iPad and iPod Touch sold, Apple increases the profile of iOS with potential iPhone buyers and strengthens its developer ecosystem."
Source:  Press release from Gartner, 9th February 2011

Sales of Android devices overtook sales of Symbian devices in Q4 2010

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"Canalys today published its final Q4 2010 global country-level smart phone market data, which revealed that Google’s Android has become the leading platform. Shipments of Android-based smart phones reached 32.9 million, while devices running Nokia’s Symbian platform trailed slightly at 31.0 million worldwide. But Nokia did retain its position as the leading global smart phone vendor, with a share of 28%. The fourth quarter also saw the worldwide smart phone market continue to soar, with shipments of 101.2 million units representing year-on-year growth of 89%. The final quarter took shipments for the year to fractionally below 300 million units, with an annual growth rate of 80% over 2009 (see table below).
In Q4 2010, volumes of Google OS-based smart phones (Android, OMS and Tapas) were again boosted by strong performances from a number of vendors, notably LG, Samsung, Acer and HTC, whose volumes across these platforms grew 4,127%, 1,474%, 709% and 371% respectively year-on-year. HTC and Samsung together accounted for nearly 45% of Google OS-based handset shipments."

Source:  Press release from Canalys, 31st January 2011