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Bill Hughes of market research firm In-Stat is predicting that 17.1 million Google Android OS based devices will be sold in 2009, nearly double what he is predicting for world-wide Apple iPhone sales. He believes that the Chinese market will be the driving force behind Android adoption, with its 1 billion potential cell phone subscribers. Hughes says that the fact that the Android OS is free will be “very attractive in Asia.”

Hughes also thinks that the Chinese government’s plans to push 3G services based on its largely home-grown TD-SCDMA technology will give Linux powered devices the upper hand over those running proprietary and fee based operating systems. It is worth noting, however, that the Symbian OS will also be free in the not-so-distant future, since Nokia has purchased the remainder of Symbian and is putting the OS and its S60 user interface into open source.

You can read more about In-Stat’s projections over at Forbes.

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Darcy LaCouvee

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Darcy is the Founder of AndroidAuthority.com and our resident Android guru. He follows the latest trends and is on top of everything related to Android. With a keen eye for spotting emerging trends and reporting them, he works hard to bring you the best analysis, updates, and reports on all things Android. Darcy lives and breathes the latest mobile technology, and believes Android will be on a billion devices in the not too distant future.