14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest report from Nielsen, 56 percent of all users who purchased a smartphone in the past three months chose an Android device.
This shows an impressive growth when compared to the previous report from Nielsen, which showed that Android represented the OS of choice for only 43 percent of smartphone buyers.
Apple's iOS came in on the second position, with 28 percent flat market share, while RIM's BlackBerry OS was placed third, with 9 percent market share, only half of what it accounted for last month.
Other mobile operating systems have lost even more market share, and we refer here to Microsoft's Windows Phone, which is now included in the 6 percent of “other OS” options.
The company also says that the smartphone segment has been gaining ground on the mobile phone market in the United States, pushing the share of feature phones to under 50 percent.
“According to an August survey, 43 percent of all smartphone owners have an Android device. But if you ask only those who got a new smartphone in the past three months what kind of phone they chose, more than half (56%) will tell you they picked an Android device,” the research firm notes.
“The preferences of these so-called “recent acquirers” are important as they are often a leading indicator of where the market is going.”
Smartphones are expected to continue to gain more ground over feature phones, the research firm notes, adding that new launches will certainly help the segment.
The new iPhone 5, as well as other high-end smartphone models set to be released on shelves before the end of the year and beyond might determine even more users to chose such a device over a feature phone for their next purchase.
“Apple's iOS came in on the second position, with 28 percent flat market share, while RIM's BlackBerry OS was placed third, with 9 percent market share, only half of what it accounted for last month,” Nielsen also notes.
