Google Android’s increasing popularity is expected to skyrocket as it is expected to take over as the top smartphone mobile platform this year, according to a new report released by research firm IDC.

IDC’s Senior Research Analyst Ramon Llamas said that 2010 was a testing ground for Android but this year, it is expected to blast off big. The report also estimates that the smartphone industry will increase by 49.2 percent in 2011 with consumers and businesses switching to smartphones.

The IDC attributed the huge growth to pent up demands from two years ago when consumers opted to suspend their purchases. However, the expected growth is a decrease from the 74 percent registered last year. It is projected that around 450 million smartphones compared to the 303.4 million last year.

IDC also predicts the rise of Windows Phone 7 in 2011. Microsoft lost a lot of ground to other operating systems but its recent partnership with Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, will give the software company a new lease in life. The first Phone 7 powered Nokia phones will roll out next year and it is projected that Phone 7 will be the second largest mobile platform after Google Android.

The IDC predicts that global shares of Android in 2011 will be at 39.5 percent, and will increase to 45.4 percent by 2015. With Nokia abandoning Symbian, currently second with 20.9 percent market share, it will drop to zero percent by 2015. Apple’s iOS, running third at 15.7 percent, will drop to 0.4 percent in 2015.

Research In Motion, the mobile platform for the BlackBerry, will see a slight decrease from 14.9 percent to 13.7 percent. Other mobile platforms will see an increase from 3.5 percent to 4.6 percent in the next four years.

Several varieties of handsets are now powered by Google Android, such as LG, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, to name just a few. It has also emerged as the main competitor of Apple for tablet operating systems.

A research conducted by Nielsen in January 2011 revealed that 40 percent of those who bought smartphones in the last six months preferred an Android-based handset. During that time, Apple iOS was the preferred platform at 27 percent followed by the Blackberry at 19 percent.

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