14 DAY TRIAL // Google's Android operating system is the leading mobile platform in the United States when smartphone subscribers are involved, a recent report from comScore shows.
During the three months ended May 2011, the platform went up 5.1 percentage points, now leading the market with 38.1 percent share.
The mobile OS has left other platforms far behind, with Apple's iOS accounting for only 26.6 percent of the smartphone subscribers in the country, and RIM's BlackBerry platform enjoying only 24.7 percent of the market.
Microsoft's mobile operating system ended the period on the fourth position, with 5.8 percent market share, followed by Palm's platform with 2.4 percent.
Overall, Android and Apple's iOS were the only mobile platforms that gained market share in the time frame, while all others lost ground.
According to comScore, a total number of 76.8 million people in the U.S. had a smartphone in the three months ending in May 2011, an increase of 11 percent when compared to the previous three months period.
On the US phone subscribers market, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used handsets in the time frame, with Samsung maintaining its leading position when it comes to users' preferences.
“Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 21.1 percent share and Motorola with 15.1 percent share,” the research firm explains.
The company also notes that Apple ended the period on the fourth place with 8.7 percent share of mobile subscribers, as it gained 1.2 percentage points since February, while RIM was placed on the fifth position with 8.1 percent share.
“In May, 69.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Browsers were used by 39.8 percent of subscribers (up 1.5 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 38.6 percent (up 2.0 percentage points),” comScore notes.
“Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.8 percentage points to 28.6 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 26.9 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.3 percentage points), while 18.6 percent listened to music on their phones.”
