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As consumer appetite for smartphones grows ever more voracious, research outfit IDC has admitted even its wildest growth predictions came in 10% lower than actual growth numbers, with a whopping 269.6 million smartphone shipments this year.

The number crunchers at IDC say that in the first six months of 2010 alone, vendors managed to ship 119.4 million smartphones, compared to just 76.8 million smartphones in the same period of 2009. Overall, 2009 saw the shipment of 173.5 million units, which means if IDC’s numbers hold up, 2010 will see an overall growth of 55.4% in smartphones.

With the slew of shiny, pretty new phones out there, including the immensely popular EVO 4G, the iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S and a whole host of other drool-worthy Android offerings, it is perhaps not particularly surprising to see such a surge in demand, but the telco industry must be pretty proud of itself.

Android seems to be the buzzword of the year, but IDC confirms that it’s still Nokia’s Symbian which takes the most widespread OS crown, with 40.1% of the market. BlackBerry, however, is said to be gaining fast, and analysts predict Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 will also take a slice out of the Symbian pie.

Google’s Android, however, is still the one to watch, with IDC noting “Android is the wild card, deserving close observation for the rest of this year and the years to come.”

Phone vendors, said IDC, had been drawn to the Android platform “because it allows them to present their own approach to what a smartphone experience can be.”

Android is also easy to use with a big and ever growing app base, explains IDC, all of which go towards strengthening the OS’ credentials.

And while it may have been Motorola and HTC who kick-started the Android trend, IDC believes other firms will take the ball and run with it. “Dell, Kyocera, LG Electronics, and Samsung will soon help grow the Android market,” it predicted.