Android 3.9% in 08 – 29.6% In 2014 | Is Java on Android The Best Choice For Mobile Apps?

A new Gartner report says that the worldwide mobile operating system (OS) market will be dominated by Symbian and Android, as the two OSs will account for 59.8 percent of mobile OS sales by 2014.  It is to be seen if application development on these platforms will be primarily Java or this will change, especially following Oracle’s lawsuit on Google about Java on Android.

“The worldwide mobile OS market is dominated by four players: Symbian, Android, Research In Motion and iOS,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Launches of updated operating systems — such as Apple iOS 4, BlackBerry OS 6, Symbian 3 and Symbian 4, and Windows Phone 7 — will help maintain strong growth in smartphones in 2010 and 2011 and spur innovation. However, we believe that market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from CSPs and developers and strong brand awareness with consumer and enterprise customers.”

Gartner predicts that by 2014, open-source platforms will continue to dominate more than 60 percent of the market for smartphones. Single-source platforms, such as Apple’s iOS and Research In Motion’s OS, will increase in unit terms, but their growth rate will be below market average and not enough to sustain share increase.

Windows Phone will be relegated to sixth place behind MeeGo in Gartner’s worldwide OS ranking by 2014.

Considering the momentum, growth & popularity of Android, is Android the best platform for mobile application development today? If you were start building a new mobile application today, would you build it with Java on Android?

Related: IndicThreads Conference On Mobile Application Development