Google Android Takes Majority Share of Smartphone Market

April 4, 2012

comscore-share-of-smartphone-market-by-platform-nov11-v-feb12-apr12.jpgGoogle’s share of the US smartphone market (primarily representing the Android platform) climbed 7% between the 3 months ending November 2011 and 3 months ending February 2012, increasing its smartphone platform share to 50.1% in that time period, according to comScore MobiLens data released in April. Google’s share has now grown more than 50% in the past year. Apple also saw a rise in market share, up 5% to 30.2%. Both Google and Apple gained at the expense of RIM, which lost 19% to 13.4% share, and Microsoft, which dropped 25% of its share, down to 3.9%.

General US smartphone ownership grew significantly between November 2011 and February 2012, with 104.5 million people in the US owning the devices during the 3 months ending in February 2012, up 14% from the prior 3-month period. This also represents 50% growth from 69.5 million owners a year ago. March data from Nielsen indicates that 49.7% of the US mobile subscriber population now owns a smartphone, as of February 2012, compared to just 36% in February 2011.

Apple Passes Motorola, RIM Out of Top 5 OEM

For the 3-month average period ending in February 2012, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices, flat from a year earlier. Apple saw the strongest gain, up more than 20% to account for 13.5% of subscribers, overtaking Motorola, which lost nearly 7% to 12.8% share.

Samsung retained its top spot, flat at 25.6%. LG lost about 5% of its share to 19.4%, while HTC grew nearly 7% to 6.3%, overtaking RIM, which fell out of the top 5.

Mobile Content Usage Keeps Rising

comscore-mobile-content-usage-nov11-v-feb12-apr12.jpgIn February 2012, all forms of mobile content usage tracked by comScore showed higher rates of activity than in November 2011. For example, 74.8% of US mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 3% from 72.16%. Downloaded applications were used by 49.5% of subscribers, up more than 10% from the previous 3-month period, and representing more than 35% growth from a year earlier. Browsers were used by 49.2% of the mobile audience, representing solid 11% growth from the previous quarter, and up 28% year-over-year.

In addition, accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 9.4%, growing from 33% to 36.1% of mobile subscribers. Playing games increased 9%, from 29.7% to 32.3% of the mobile audience, while listening to music jumped more than 14% from 21.7% to 24.8%.

About the Data: MobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of more than 30,000 US mobile subscribers age 13 and older. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent’s primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent’s secondary device.

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