Despite being handed numerous setbacks courtesy Apple, Android continues to build on its world wide dominance in the mobile area with the latest stats from the International Data Corporation (IDC) showing that, in Q3 2012, Android has extended its lead over rivals.

When we last check with IDC, Android was sitting at 68% of global marketshare. That lead has increased to 75% over the past three months, largely at the expense of iOS (which now has 14.9% marketshare), Symbian, and Windows Phone. You can check out the detailed numbers in the following chart:

Of course it is no surprise that Android is steamrolling the competition. With Google’s willingness to let anyone and everyone put Android on their smartphones and tablets, Android devices have flooded the market which clearly is helping Android gain more traction. In fact, astute observers will note this is similar to what happened in the 90s in the battle between Mac and Windows. For the sake of competition, let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself. As much as we love to hate Apple, no one can deny that Apple’s iPhone has spurred the competition, e.g. Android, to innovate and improve which is only better for us consumers.