Android unseats BlackBerry in Indonesian stronghold

This is big. Android has overtaken BlackBerry as the top OS in Indonesia, one of the Canadian manufacturer’s biggest markets.

According to the latest stats from tech research company IDC, Google’s little green robot is now standard on 52% of smartphones in the country.

That said, BlackBerry is still the most popular overall device in the country, but only because so many different smartphone manufacturers run Android.

According to IDC Indonesia market analyst for client devices research Darwin Lie, the delayed launch of BB10 isn’t helping matters either:

The increase in shipments of Android-based phones in Indonesia is driven not just by its affordability but also the broad range of applications and growing popularity of touchscreens. The delay in the launch of BlackBerry 10, which is causing buyers to wait until 2013 for new models, has also contributed an impact to the change in OS preference.

Another reason for the rapid increase in Android phones is because of the increased demand for touch screens phones. As is the case in most of the rest of the world, the player most likely to conquer the Indonesian market is Samsung.

That said, feature phones look set to continue their overall dominance in the market. Especially as, according to IDC, smartphone shipments posted a six percent decline Quarter on Quarter although they registered 13% growth Year on Year.

The entry of local manufacturers such as Cross and MITO is also pushing the market forward, with feature phone shipments exceeding 45-million by the end of 2012, driven by demand from outskirt/rural areas of Indonesia.