Google’s Android is Going for the Gold in 2012

Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android system for mobile phones is eating up the competition, according to a report from Kantar WorldPanel relating to the 12 weeks to mid-April.

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New smartphone models from Samsung and HTC that ran Android software helped it boost its share by hefty margins across the major markets, namely Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United States.

Android’s share doubled in Germany (where it now accounts for 62 percent of the smartphone market), Spain (72 percent), and Italy (49 percent).

The iPhone 4S was of some help to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in narrowing Android’s lead across the U.S. and Britain, but Apple was on the back foot in Europe, where it lost market share.

Microsoft benefited from Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) move to the Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows platform, and resumed growth — in Germany, its share doubled to 6 percent and reached 3-4 percent in Britain, France, Italy and the U.S.

The losers were, not surprisingly, Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) and Nokia’s Symbian operating system. RIM’s share in the U.S. was decimated to just 3 percent from 9 percent.

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