The overall available profits in the market dipped to under $4 billion at the worst point of the recession, but had recovered to $6 billion in last year's holiday quarter.
While Apple has been losing ground to Android in recent months – Android is now the biggest-selling US smartphone OS – Asymco does not expect the platform to challenge Apple's profit share.
It points out that smartphone leaders Nokia, Apple and RIM will never adopt Android, as it would further threaten their margins. As a result, Google has been forced to hitch its wagon to the vendors with the lowest shares of the smartphone market.
“That means Android is aligned with the biggest losers in the industry,” Asymco said.
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