PARIS, FRANCE: Google's Android smartphone software took fourth place for the first time in the January-March quarter, beating Microsoft's Windows Mobile, research firm Gartner said on Wednesday.

The Android operating system, which was in 10 percent of smartphones sold in the quarter, still lags Nokia's Symbian, Research in Motion and Apple.

A 49 percent jump in smartphone sales in January-March helped the global cellphone market grow 17 percent year-on-year, Gartner said.

"Smartphone sales to end users saw their strongest year-on-year increase since 2006," Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, said in a statement.