In less than eight years, Google has turned a no-name operating system into the world's most popular smartphone platform.

Android, acquired by the search giant in 2005, has gone from near-obscurity to 250 million product activations in the past year. That growth has even eclipsed Apple's wildly successful line of iOS-based mobile devices, which had 104.7 million activations in 2011, according to MBA Online.

After years of competition between devices like the Android-based Samsung Galaxy S series and various iPhone incarnations, Google has risen to the top of the heap, registering 1.3 million activated Android devices every day. The operating system's popularity is now on a par with McDonald'saccording to MBA Online, the fast food joint sells 17 Big Macs per second, only just beating out the 15 Android devices that are activated every tick of the second hand.

A big difference between Big Macs and Android phones is price, of courseas MBA Online notes in its infographic (below), "[t]hese $200 devices are almost as prolific as $2 burgers."

In the third quarter of 2012, Android achieved an important milestone. Samsung's Galaxy S III outsold Apple's iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 during that period, the first time a single Android phone beat out an iPhone in pure sales.

Apple rallied towards the end of the year and regained the smartphone market lead for an individual handset in the U.S. market during the 12-week period ending Nov. 25, with 53 percent of national sales, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. During the same period, Android sales fell almost 11 percent to a 42 percent share of the U.S. market.

And Cupertino still holds the crown in the tablet world, keeping its market share lead through the second and third quarters of 2012, MBA Online reported. Still, Android tablets are beginning to close the gap on the iPad.

Apple is still the king of the apps, though, earning $2.53 billion in 2012 app revenue, compared to Google Play's $1.68 billion. But in terms of app volume, the ever-growing Google-run app store can now match the App Store in the numbers game.

For more, see MBA Online's infographic below.

For more from Stephanie, follow her on Twitter @smlotPCMag.

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