Android powered smartphones are beginning to take over the word it seems. A new research study by Kantar Worldpanel produced in May shows Android hitting just under 45% of the market share. 12 months ago the Android capture of the smartphone market was under 10 percent. Although this seems a huge gain and is, 3G is not too surprised at this when you consider all the new Android smartphones being released.

There are losers of course. Both Apple's iOS and Nokia's Symbian have shown a sharp decline according to Kantar Worldpanel, who confirm that Apple's iOS market share has declined from 33% to under 20% . However, as you would expect , Symbian is the biggest loser having seen its market share drop from 31 percent to under 11 percent.

Windows Phone 7 claimed under 3 percent of smartphone market share but this will receive a huge boost once Nokia start shipping Window Phone 7 devices. The recent agrrement between Microsoft and Windows Phone 7 should either be a great success or a mediocre failure. Its too hard to call at this stage.

One of the main strongholds for BlackBerry is in fact the UK. BlackBerry has increased its market-share by over 2 percent to 21 percent in very difficult market conditions and an ongoing campaign from Android.

In the coming months it will be interesting to see if the new Apple iPhone 5 will revitalize Apple's market share or whether the onslaught of all the new smartphones coming to market is too much for Apple too compete with. An example is the Samsung Galaxy S II which sold over a million units in 6 weeks in Korea and gives an indication of the smartphone challenge facing Apple with its iOS.