The forecaster reckons 10.5 million smartphones will be sold overall, and that devices running the Android operating system will reach 0.4 million units. The other OSs include Blackberry, Microsoft, Apple, Palm, Symbian and LiMo.

Chris Ambrosio, exec director at Strategy Analytics, said: “Google has the brand power in the USA to make a big impact at launch. The main issue will be operator subsidies. As seen with the iPhone and smart devices in general, retail prices need to be well below $200 to be competitive. Longer-term success will, of course, rest on Android vendor ability to create designs with wow factor and an intuitive user-interface.”