Adding to the research analysis that Android will soon capture a dominant portion of the smart phone marketplace, Piper Jaffray forecasts that Android is on track to own half of it, largely due to its product cycle and multiple partners. The report predicted that both Nokia and RIM (Research in Motion) will eventually adopt Android as an operating system.
The Apple OS is likely to end up with 20 to 30 percent of the market share, a number echoed by other research firms. Unknown factors in the race to dominate the smart phone arena include Windows Mobile 7. With regard to profits, however, the report estimated that Google is on track to reap $1.35 billion in revenue from Android in 2012, which is still less than Apple generated in its first quarter of the year. Apple, which only offers two phones, may be forced to grow its smart phone portfolio and/or adopt a new search engine to compete with Android. The fact that Apple is limited to one carrier also discourages growth.