Android, the operating system by Google, accounted for 33.3 million of the 101.2 million smartphones shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter 2010, based on reporting from Canalys.

Where is the iOS? Running up well behind with 16.2 million phones shipping in the same timeframe.  That represents a 16 percent market share to Android’s 32.9 percent.  Research in Motion (producer of the Blackberry) came in just behind iOS with 14.6 million units for 14.4 percent market share.

Adding Verizon as a carrier is expected to let the iPhone catch up extensively to Android’s position in 2011, but the battle of the smartphones is only heating up with the addition of features such as 3D displays, dual-core processing and near field communications chips.

Continued sharp sales with no end in sight for both platforms represent a continually expanding environment for job growth in mobile application development.  GogoTraining’s mobile application development training courses for Android are releasing this February and updates to existing iPhone programming course to follow soon after.

According to Deloitte, more than 25% of all tablets sold in 2011 will be purchased by enterprises and that figure is expected to rise in the following several years.  Four factors are cited as being responsible for enterprise adoption.

1. Consumer cross-over: As consumers continue to purchase and use tablet devices they inevitably discover their usefulness in the context of work such as email, network access and so on.

2. Tablet-Friendly Industry Adoption: Industries that lend themselves to tablet use in the context of their day-to-day operations will mean a strong uptake of the device into their workforce.  This includes verticals such as retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

3. Ideal Form Welcome at C-Level: Where laptops and smartphones create an actual physical block between the user and someone else, tablets lie flat on a table and can be used without interfering in that critical personal space – something noticed by executives.

4. Enterprise Software Providers Already Responding: The big names in ECM, CRM, ERP and other enterprise applications are already addressing requests by Fortune 500 customers asking for software and interface upgrades that enable tablets in the workplace.

What does all of this (particularly number four) mean for mobile application development?  More jobs! With such a mass scale adoption already started, development of apps for tablets – including integration with existing enterprise applications – is set to see a strong growth curve through 2011 and 2012, and likely longer.

Interested in Android programming? Coming in February:

– Introduction to Android Programming

– Advanced Android Programming