The latest analytics report from Gartner is in, and their quarter two numbers once again bode positively for Google and Android. While it was already becoming old hat to keep referencing Android’s rapid rise in the mobile market, after the recent string of reports covering the second quarter of the year “Android beats out iPhone” is starting to become the standard. This is once again shown in Gartner’s figures, which place Android as the number three mobile OS world-wide with a 17.2 percent market share. This sites one percent below number two RIM’s 18.2, and a full three percent above Apple’s 14.2.

In other news from the report, HTC has cracked the top ten mobile manufacturers, in large part thanks to the use of Android heavily in their rotation of constantly released handsets. They are now poised just below Apple’s number seven rank in the standings, with Motorola and their Android phones (in addition to their other non-Android handsets) ranking sixth.

At this point I’d like to draw your attention to a PCWorld article from November 1st, 2007, in which analyst Ken Dualney of the very same Gartner group that issued this latest report said, “Building an OS is the dumbest thing [Google] could do.” Well, Ken, we’re not sure if you still work with Gartner, but how does it feel to eat crow?

[via Gartner]