The number of touchscreen mobile-phone users in the US has grown 159% during the past year – to 23.8 million in August 2009 – and has substantially outpaced the already-strong 63% growth of smartphone use, according to a study of touchscreen mobile phone adoption in the US by comScore, Inc.
Top 10 Touchscreen Device Families
Not surprisingly, the Apple iPhone ranks as the top touchscreen device family with 32.9% of touchscreen device users ages 13+, nearly four times larger than the market share of the next largest device family, the LG Dare (8.7%).
LG Voyager ranks #3 with 7.8% of the market, followed by the Blackberry Storm (7.0%) and Palm Treo (6.5%).
Touchscreen Users Younger
Smartphones in general and touchscreen devices specifically tend to be more popular among younger users, comScore said. While 38.8% of all mobile subscribers (age 13+) are under age 35, 51.4% of smartphone users are in this age cohort, as are 57.7% of touchscreen device users.
The analysis found that a a significant 20.6% of touchscreen users are in the narrow age range of 18-24. Less than 5% of smartphone and touchscreen device users are ages 65+, compared with 13% of the total US mobile audience.
“Touchscreen phones have quickly gained adoption as new devices have flooded the mobile marketplace,” said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of mobile. “This is a trend that should continue to pick up as additional touchscreen devices, many of them running the Android operating system, arrive in the market before the holiday shopping season.”
Donovan expects the market to grow increasingly competitive in months to come.
A recent study on smartphone satisfaction from CFI Group found the iPhone to be the undisputed leader in terms of customer satisfaction with a smartphone device, while smartphone users gave Verizon’s service the highest marks.