iOS demand pips UK Android sales in October

As anybody paying attention could (and did) predict, Apple's latest iGadget has helped iOS to take top honours in the smartphone segment in the UK. Reported by obscure market tracker, the intriguingly-named Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, iOS totted up 42.8% market share for the week ending october 30, while the UK's Android sales for that week managed a relatively lacklustre 35%.

So, as expected, the much-speculated mega-hit generated by the iP4S's pent-up demand arrived in the UK at least, and for a week the Cupertino phone maker got to bask in some good market share news for a change. The fly in the ointment is that across the quarter ending on that same October 30, Android devices still sold to the smartphone-buying Brits faster than than iOS iDevices did - Android scoring 46% to Apple's 27.8%.

But the iPhone maker will be sighing with relief at the cessation, however temporary, of its continually poor showing versus Google's efforts.

Note also that this result is for the UK only, and covered the week of the iPhone 4S's launch. It also occurred in a climate where Apple has finally made its phones available to any carrier that can afford the meaty subsidy the company demands for the priviledge of becoming an iPhone reseller, and the new gizmo is a world phone which means it's able to run on any network on the good Earth.

Still, expect the news to be trumpeted from the rooftops in Cupertino for the next 30 days.

Graphic courtesy of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech - note the comparitive growth figures...