Android loses market share to iOS in Q4, says Gartner

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According to a report from market research firm Gartner, Android lost market share in Q4 2011 thanks to the strong quarter that Apple had with sales of iOS devices. This is the first time that Android's market share has shrunk since its initial launch in 2008.

Though Android was still the number one mobile platform in Q4, with 50.9 percent of the market, its share fell from the 52.5 percent that it was in Q3. Apple's market share for Q4 was 23.8 percent, while Symbian held on to the global third place slot with an 11.7 percent share.

Gartner says that Q4 global smartphone sales were 149 million this year, an increase of 47.3 percent from the prior year. Total sales for the 2011 calendar year were 472 million devices, an increase of 58 percent over 2010's sales. [via Computerworld]