iOS and Android dominate latest smartphone share stats

Latest figures from market research firm IDC reveal that Google Android and Apple’s iOS continued to dominate the smartphone scene in 2014. Microsoft and BlackBerry, however, both showed marked declines.Android enjoyed an 81.5% share of the market over the whole year, up from 78.7% in 2013. Apple slipped slightly to 14.8% from 15.1%.Windows, however, saw a 0.6% drop from 3.3% to 2.7%, while BlackBerry managed to take a mere 0.4% of the market, down from 1.9%.The figures for the last quarter of 2014 show a similar picture, with Apple enjoying a slight surge due to its record–breaking iPhone sales for the three months from October to December.Android saw a small drop from 78.2% to 76.6%, while Windows and BlackBerry both experienced declines of 0.2%.The stats bear out the harsh truth that beyond Android and iOS, rival operating systems are struggling to compete.Windows, despite a glitzy new launch, remains niche and unloved by developers, while BlackBerry’s relevance has shown a huge fall since its heyday almost ten years ago.