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Smartphones that run on Google's open source mobile Operating System (OS) 'Android' accounted for 68% of the total number of smartphones used in South Korea only in a year since their launches. Sources say that the Google's headquarters is very encouraged by the growth of Android in Korea, which accounts for 32.9%, or more than double the OS' total global market share.

According to an analysis of smartphone sales by Korea's three major mobile operators SK Telecom (SKT), KT and LG Uplus by Maeil Business Newspaper on Sunday, the total smartphone sales as of January 2011 reached 8.97 million units. Among them, 6.03 million units were Android-based smartphones.

Two out of three Korean smartphone users prefer Android-based smartphones currently, a year after the launch of 'Motoroi,' the first Android-run smartphone released by Motorola in February last year.

The reason why Android-based smartphones have become popular in Korea is that domestic mobile carriers hit by the impact of iPhone joined forces with Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Pantech to put their all-out efforts into developing Android-based smartphones.

Korean mobile carriers actually rolled out a total of 27 Android-powered smartphone models, including Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S (sold 2.6 million units), Pantech's Vega, Vega X and Ezra (1.2 million units), LG Electronics' Optimus-1 (0.6 million units), HTC's Desire, Motorola's Motoroi and Sony Ericson's X10.

Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone, which has been carried exclusively by KT, recorded 2.1 million for combined sales of all three models sold in Korea (iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4).

Android phones were better adapted to the domestic smartphone users with more localized user-friendly functions, which gave them an upper hand over iPhones and Blackberries which unwaveringly held on to global standards.

Android phone's rapid rise was also verified in the overseas market. According to a study by Canalys, a market research agency, Android outstripped Nokia's Symbian for global share of smartphone OS in the fourth quarter of last year, and stepped up to first place.

Android covers 33.3 million units of the 112 million smartphones sold globally, which adds up to a 32.9% share. This is more than double the sales for iPhone (16.2 million) and Blackberry (14.6 million).

Notwithstanding its popularity, critics point out several flaws that need to be addressed in the Android OS. For one, the software's overly frequent updates impose burdens on manufacturers and can be a hassle for consumers who suffer data loss or inadequate optimization during each upgrade. The dearth of payment system and game categories may also act as a barrier for further expansion.

[Written by Jae-kwon Sohn, Myung-hwan Kim - Su-hyun Song, Samji Chung / edited by Soyoung Chung]

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]