Sales of smartphones based on Google Android operating system are growing rapidly thanks to high number of different models that run the OS available across the world. Apparently, about 300 thousand of Android-based mobile phones are purchased daily, the number comparable to sales of Symbian-based products.

"There are over 300 000 Android phones activated each day," said Andy Rubin, the vice president of engineering at Google, in his micro-blog.

Even though this is not a direct confirmation that 300 thousand of phones featuring Android are purchased daily, the number of bought and activated phones should be very close.

The third quarter of 2010 produced record sales of more than 81 million smartphones, according to Gartner. Android accounted for 25.5% of worldwide smartphone sales, making it the No. 2 operating system and particularly dominant in North America. Back in Q3 about 20.5 million of smartphones with Android were purchased worldwide (or around 227 thousands daily). Only Nokia's Symbian was more popular than Android in the third quarter, according to Gartner. There were around 29.48 million of smartphones powered by Symbian sold in Q3 2010, or about 327.5 thousand daily.

Android is getting more popular as smartphones in general are increasing their share among cell phones. Smartphone sales grew 96% from the third quarter last year, and smartphones accounted for 19.3% of overall mobile phone sales in the third quarter of 2010, based on data from Gartner.

Tags: Google, Android, Symbian, iPhone