Research firm Strategy Analytics today estimates for the second quarter of last year. Android’s other gains appear to have come at the expense of Microsoft and Research in Motion, which registered at 4.6% and 3.3% respectively during the second quarter.
The relevance of Strategy Analytics’ numbers have been questioned in the past due to its counting of shipments rather than end sales to customers. With many early Android tablets seeing little interest from consumers, the firm’s reports were seen as overstating Android’s impact by counting Android tablets still sitting on store shelves while Apple was selling nearly every iPad it could make. It is unclear whether that dynamic has changed with the introduction of the Kindle Fire, which has reportedly seen fairly strong adoption and which may have lower channel inventory needs due to Amazon’s heavy emphasis on distribution through its own website.
