It's good to pop into StatCounter's extensive data analysis system every once in a while and get a sample of how the various mobile OS are doing from the standpoint of an active user base. Jay's just done this (warning: lots of images, don't browse on mobile!) for the last year, looking at different regions and has come up with some very interesting charts (the most relevant embedded below). Remember, this data is gathered by tracking mobile users accessing web sites from their smartphones, it's not sales and it's not indicative of other aspects of smartphone use.

In case you can't face Jay's barrage of region-specific charts, here's the main one, looking at worldwide smartphone use over the last 12 months. It's very evident that Symbian's maintaining the gap at the top in terms of active user base, with Android and iOS vying for second place. Although sales of the latter two OS are now higher, we've also got users of older (e.g. S60 5th Edition) Symbian smartphones now 'discovering' Internet access for the first time and keeping Symbian ahead overall.

Most iOS and Android users are far more likely to go online on their phones than the typical Symbian user, but then the latter OS still has a vastly bigger installed user base and I don't expect the balance to change until at least the end of 2012.