Android gains US smartphone market share: comScore

Google's Android operating system gained US smartphone market share in the quarter which ended in July while Blackberry maker Research in Motion, Apple and Microsoft lost ground, digital tracking firm comScore said.

Canada's RIM remained the leading smartphone platform in the United States with a 39.3 percent share of US smartphone subscribers, comScore said, but its share fell 1.8 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Apple, maker of the iPhone, saw its market share fall 1.3 percent to 23.8 percent in the quarter while Android's market share rose five percentage points to 17.0 percent.

Microsoft's Windows Mobile saw its share fall 2.2 percent to 11.8 percent, while that of Palm, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard earlier this year, held steady at 4.9 percent.

ComScore said that despite losing share to Android, an open-source platform which Google makes available to handset makers, most smartphone platforms are still gaining subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.

The Reston, Virginia-based company said 53.4 million people in the United States owned smartphones at the end of July, up 11 percent from the April period, and a total of 234 million Americans aged 13 and older use mobile devices.

ComScore said Samsung had a 23.1 percent share of US mobile subscribers at the end of July followed by LG with 21.2 percent, Motorola with 19.8 percent, RIM with 9.0 percent and Nokia with 7.8 percent.

(c) 2010 AFP