According to a recent revelation by retail giant Tesco, the year 2011 has witnessed a robust start in terms of Android-handset sales – with the mega-mart disclosing that, for the first time, its sales of Android-based mobile handsets having surpassed the sales of Apple's iPhone.

Noting that the both the platforms – Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone – were almost at par in January, Tesco Mobile elaborated that while the sales of the iPhone were ahead of the sales of Android handsets before Christmas last year, the positions completely turned around in Android’s favor in February.

To further substantiate its point that Android sales have overtaken iPhone sales, Tesco Mobile - which offers mobile phone services based on the O2 network – said that its sales trend “underpins recent statistics released by industry analysts Gartner.”

The Gartner data that Tesco Mobile has drawn attention to – for driving home the point that Android is apparently set for a meteoric growth this year - reveals that Android sales have soared a whopping 900 percent from 2009; with
67.2 million Android-based units sold in 2010.

Commenting on Android sales’ figures, Graham Harris, CEO of Tesco Telecoms and Tesco Mobile, said in a statement: “As one of the UK's leading operators, these sales are a useful barometer for smartphone trends. There is a lot of choice in the market and as a result consumers are driving healthy competition between rival operating systems.”