Recent research has found that more than three in 10 wireless gadget users own an electronic device that runs on Google’s Android mobile operating system, putting strong emphasis on its openness.

According to a market research firm Strategy Analytics’ data, the Android OS garnered a 35.9 percent share in the global OS market, followed by Nokia’s Symbian and Apple’s iOS with 26.3 percent and 18.1 percent of market share, respectively.

The growth of Android’s stake in the OS market has more than tripled compared to the same period last year, according to industry insiders.

Pete Cunningham, principal analyst at market research firm Canalys, said that Android’s industry dominance was boosted by its key vendors’ good performance.

“HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson drove Android shipments in the first quarter (of this year), with each vendor shipping well over 3 million devices,” Cunningham said.

The worldwide shipment of smartphones grew 83 percent to 101 million units, according to Canalys.

Samsung Electronics was placed second in the smartphone market last year with a 12.2 percent stake, only 1 percent behind Research In Motion in market share. LG Electronics also took up 4 percent of the market, taking sixth place.

“Android OS’ biggest merit is its openness and it is dominating the global smartphone industry by teaming up with hardware technologies released by companies like Samsung, LG and HTC among others,” said an industry source.

In a related event, Canalysis confirmed last week that Asia Pacific has become the largest smartphone market region, with year-on-year growth of 98 percent to 37.3 million units. This places the region ahead of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the first time since the third quarter of 2007, it said.

“On a country basis, mainland China, South Korea and India delivered strong volumes and registered triple-digit growth,” it added.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)