Android continues to conquer the world

Android keeps boosting its global market share, according to a new study from Kantar WorldPanel, reported by Reuters. The firm's latest research showed that Android picked up strong market share gains in most of the seven major nations around the world, including the United States, Australia, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The gains were measured over a 12-week period up until mid April. Android more than doubled its share in Spain to 72 percent, Reuters noted, and almost doubled it in Germany to 62 percent. Kantar attributed the increase to new smartphones from Samsung and HTC, which continued to grab market share at the expense of RIM and Nokia. Apple bumped up its market share in the U.S. and the U.K. thanks to the iPhone 4S, though demand was sluggish in Europe. Microsoft is seeing some signs of life thanks in huge part to Nokia's Windows Phone-based Lumia handsets. The market share of Windows Phone more than doubled to 6 percent in Germany the past year, Reuters said. And it inched up to 3 to 4 percent in the U.S., the U.K., France, and Italy. Other reports have pointed to a surge in Android during the first quarter. Android's U.S. market share jumped to 61 percent last quarter, up from 49 percent during the holiday quarter, according to NPD. At the same time, Apple's iOS lost ground, dropping to 29 percent from 41 percent during 2011's fourth quarter.