ABI Research: Android will have 45% of the Smartphone market share by 2016

Last week it was research firm IDC stating by 2015 Google’s Android OS would capture 45.4% of the smartphone market share. Coming in a strong 2nd place is Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 OS with 20.9%. iOS and BlackBerry will be competing for 3rd and 4th place in a few years. However, competing research firm ABI has now come to the table with their own prediction of the future – but forecasting into the year 2016.
ABI says Android will take home top spot in 2016 with 45% market share, followed by iOS with 19%, BlackBerry will stay steady at 14% but foresee much dramatically different numbers for Windows Phone 7 than IDC with only 7% of the market by 2016.
Comparing both research firms there are some similarities: Android will be the leading global smartphone OS and Apple will continue to increase their market share. BlackBerry OS will unfortunately slide down in market share and the partnership between Nokia and Mircosoft will increase WP7 OS… it’s just mixed on how much impact they will have.