Google’s Android is on track to become the most used operating system in the world, according to research firm Gartner. Over the next four years, as mobile devices continue to define the next wave of computing, the number of smartphones, computers, and tablets running Android software is expected to grow to 2.3 billion from the current total of 608 million. Over the same period, the number of devices running Microsoft’s Windows platform is expected to grow from 1.5 billion to 2.28 billion.
Reuters carried word today of Gartner’s findings. The report comes as the PC market continues to struggle in the face of a struggling economy and the emergence of mobile devices as the form factors of choice for consumers.
The traditional PC sector is largely Microsoft’s turf, with the vast majority of desktops and notebooks running some version of Windows. Microsoft has struggled, though, to gain a foothold in the mobile sector, despite a years-long head start on both Google and Apple, whose operating systems dominate the tablet and smartphone sectors.
