Huwaei Technologies of China has announced that they will be releasing 2 or 3 handsets based on Google’s Android operating system in 2009 with more slated for 2010.
Edward Chen, head of Huawei’s devices unit, added that the company was interesting in releasing phones using Symbian software as well as from Linux foundation LiMo.
The Symbian operating system, created by lead handset manufacturer Nokia, is the top platform used in current mobile devices but it continues to lose ground to software platforms used by Apple and RIM, the maker of the Blackberry smartphone.
Huawei, unknown in the United States due to the fact that it sells phone to telecoms who then re-brand them, said it hopes to sell 40 million phones in 2009, compared to 33 million in 2008.
Result for: symbian software
The research firm Canalys has reported that Nokia continues to lose smartphone market share to Apple and RIM.
Nokia’s share has fallen from 51.4 percent for the Q3 2007 to 38.9 percent for the Q3 this year. Apple has grown from under 10 percent last year to 17.3 percent while RIM has grown to 15.2 percent for the quarter.
The firm says the strong growth for Apple can be attributed to the global launch of the iPhone 3G. The firm believes the Q4 can be very strong for RIM and push it past Apple if sales of the Bold, Storm, and Pearl 8220 devices all exceed conservative expectations.
Nokia has seen its Symbian software lose market share as well, from 68.1 percent to 46.6 percent from last year.
