It’s been a year since Android was first unveiled, and how Google’s baby has grown. There are currently seven handsets sporting Google’s operating system, including the much-vaunted HTC Hero. Google Market now sports over 10,000 apps and is growing all the time, and barely a day goes by without a new Android mobile phone getting leaked onto the internet. So what does the future hold for Android? Read on…

Google Android may have launched a year ago, but it’s already started to grab a significant portion of the smartphone market. Starting with the T-Mobile G1, we’ve since seen such iconic handsets as the HTC Magic, HTC Hero, Samsung Galaxy and Motorola Dext emerge sporting Android.

With the likes of Sony Ericsson reportedly loading up Android on the leaked Xperia X3, and various other mobile phone manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon, Google Android’s second year looks set to be as massive as its first. Just a look at the statistics suggests that there’s a lot more to come from the big G. According to Mobile advertising platform AdMob one in ten smartphones in the UK is now running Android and it now commands 7% of the smartphone market worldwide.

Analysts (Gartner) expect those figures to significantly grow, with Android predicted to become the number two operating system worldwide by 2012 with a 14.5% share of the mobile market (or around 76 million phones sold a year). Naturally Symbian is expected to retain its status as top dog with over a 39% market share.

The fact that Google isn’t resting on its laurels, rolling out updates to Android at quite a pace (Android 2.0 shouldn’t be too far away), shows its dedication to the operating system. And with the likes of netbooks and PMPs adopting the OS, not to mention the sheer volume of smartphones adopting the platform, suggests those statistics might not be that far off the mark.

What do you think of the Android OS? Is it better than iPhone’s OS and Symbian? Let us know…