Android Army Continues Relentless Advance

Quite a few interesting numbers in Gartner’s latest look at the global mobile device market–unit sales in Q2 were up 13.8 percent year over year; smartphone sales, up 50 percent, rose to one-fifth of the market; margins and average selling prices were pushed down by intense competition. But one line really jumped out: A year ago, Google’s (GOOG) Android OS had a worldwide market share of 1.8 percent; this year–17.2 percent, climbing past Apple’s (AAPL) iOS into third place, behind Research in Motion (RIMM) and Symbian. Gartner credits Google’s master plan: Lots of manufacturers, lots of carriers, lots of devices, lots of price points.