14 DAY TRIAL // Google’s Android operating system is currently present on over 52 percent of all smartphones in the hands of subscribers in the United States, recent data from comScore unveils.
As of August 2012, the mobile operating system accounted for a total of 52.6 percent of smartphones purchased with a subscription in the country, far more than any other platform on the market at the moment.
Android gained 1.7 percentage points in the three-month average period ending August 2012, yet it was not the only operating system out there to register growth.
comScore reports that Apple’s iOS platform also grew in the timeframe, hitting 34.3 percent market share, up 2.4 percentage points.
The third position on the market was claimed by RIM’s BlackBerry platform with 8.3 percent share, followed by Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS with 3.6 percent market share and Symbian at only 0.7 percent.
When it comes to manufacturers, Samsung remains the leader on the US market, with 25.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers owning one of its devices.
“For the three-month average period ending in August, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices,” comScore notes.
“Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 18.2 percent share. Apple continued to inch closer to the #2 ranking with 17.1 percent of mobile subscribers (up 2.1 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 11.2 percent and HTC with 6.3 percent.”
The data is based on a study that surveyed over 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers in the three months ending August 2012, the company notes.
comScore’s data also showed an increase in the use of social networking from smartphones, as well as a growth in downloaded content. 52 percent of all mobile subscribers in the country used their browsers to access the web.
“Game-playing was done by 34 percent of the mobile audience (up 0.5 percentage points), while 28.3 percent listened to music on their phones (up 1.3 percentage points),” comScore concluded.