Bottom Line: According to research by Strategy Analytics, Google’s Android OS will gain a 4% marketshare amongst Smartphone users by the fourth quarter of 2008.

For me, it is still a very open question as to whether Android can spark the mainstream appeal that the iPhone did. I’m not certain that Google currently has the chops to tangle with Apple in the consumer electronics arena.

Neil Mawston, Director, Wireless Device Strategies at Strategy Analytics, asserts,

We forecast 10.5 million smartphones to be sold in the United States during Q4 2008. We estimate smartphones with Google’s Android operating system, led by HTC of Taiwan, will reach 0.4 million units in the quarter, for a 4 percent marketshare. Android is a relatively late entrant and it will join an increasingly crowded market alongside Blackberry, Microsoft, Apple, Palm, Symbian and LiMo.

I wouldn’t put all my chips on the table quite yet.

Read more statistics . . .