Sales of Android smartphones skyrocketed by 1,309% in 2010

According to the data from research firm Canalys this year brought a tremendous growth for Android smartphones with the sales up 1,309% on a year over year basis.

"With Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson all delivering large numbers of Android devices, and with focused efforts from many other vendors, such as LG, Huawei and Acer, yielding promising volumes, the platform continues to gather momentum in markets around the world," Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham said in a report.

Thus, according to Canalys, in the third quarter of 2009 global Android sales were 1.4 million. In the same quarter this year, they had grown to over 20 million.

The report notes that while Nokia still holds the world’s leading position in the smartphones market with 33% share, Android phones come in at about a quarter of worldwide sales, followed by Apple's iPhone at 17 per cent and RIM's stable of BlackBerries at 15 per cent. Besides, in the US Nokia comes in the “Others” category where it has a 3% share, while Android dominates the American market with 43.6%.

Behind the Android phones come the iPhone at 26.2 per cent, and RIM at 24.2 per cent. Microsoft has a mere 3 per cent, tying it with "Others."