14 DAY TRIAL // Google's Android operating system is continuously increasing its market share among mobile phone subscribers in the United States, a recent report from comScore shows.
During the three-month average period ending March 2011, Google enjoyed a 34.7 percent market share among US subscribers, up from only 28.7 percent it accounted for at the end of December last year.
At the same time, the report shows that Apple's iOS platform gains traction on the market too, with its market share going up from 25 percent at the end of 2010 to 25.5 percent at the end of March 2011.
These platforms enjoyed growth at the expense of other popular operating systems on the US market, such as RIM's BlackBerry OS, which went down from 31.6 percent market share in December last year, to only 27.1 percent in March 2011.
“72.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in March 2011, up 15 percent from the preceding three-month period,” comScore reports.
“Google Android grew 6.0 percentage points to 34.7 percent market share, while RIM ranked second with 27.1 percent. Apple grew 0.5 points to 25.5 percent share, followed by Microsoft (7.5 percent) and Palm (2.8 percent).”
Microsoft's Windows Phone platform registered decline as well, hitting 7.5 percent market share after enjoying 8.4 percent in December 2010, and the same applies to Palm's webOS platform, which dropped from 3.7 percent to only 2.8 percent.
However, both of them might start regaining lost ground in the near future. Microsoft has just partnered with Nokia for the launch of new Windows Phones, a deal that might prove more that beneficial for the platform, which webOS, expects new, appealing hardware to arrive on shelves from HP.
When it comes to manufacturers, Samsung leads is US subscribers' preferences, with 24.5 percent market share, down from 24.8 percent three months before.
LG retained the second position with 20.9 percent market share, trailed by Motorola and RIM with 15.8 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively. Apple registered growth, gaining 1.1 percentage points to reach 7.9 percent market share among US subscribers, helped by the release of its iPhone at Verizon.