According to the latest statistics released by analysts Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, despite the fact the competition in the smartphone arena was notably intense in 2011, the popularity of different handsets available on the market varied from location to location; thereby implying the popularity of the Apple iPhone could not be described as universal.

In the UK, the robust sales of the iPhone witnessed the device grabbing 30.9 percent of the market in November 2011, vis-a-vis 21.4 percent during the same month last year. However, the smartphone market in the country was dominated by Google's increasingly popular Android OS; with the Android-powered handsets capturing a notable 46.6 percent of the market share this year, up from 34.8 percent in 2010.

Meanwhile, the share of Research in Motion (RIM)'s BlackBerry in the UK market was barely 16.9 percent this year. As per a report in the Telegraph, the smartphone market-share figures in the UK can hardly be termed as universal --- while the iPhone is a popular handset in the US and Australia markets too, the Eurozone markets are witnessing a noteworthy preference for the lower-priced Android-based smartphones.

Going by the statistics, the 2011 market share of the Android witnessed an increase all across Europe; while the share of Apple plunged --- in Germany, which is the biggest European market, the market share of Android increased from a mere 17.1 percent to a whopping 61 percent over the last one year; which Apple's share dropped from 27.1 percent to 21.9 percent!