Google's Android has surged past Blackberry maker Research in Motion to become the leading smartphone platform in the United States, market tracking firm comScore said Monday.

Google's Android has surged past Blackberry maker Research in Motion to become the leading smartphone platform in the United States, market tracking firm comScore said Monday.

Google's operating system captured the top spot in the United States for the first time with a 31.2 percent smartphone market share for the three months ending in January, comScore said.

RIM was next with a 30.4 percent market share, followed by Apple with 24.7 percent, with 8.0 percent and Palm with 3.2 percent.

According to comScore, 234 million Americans owned mobile devices at the end of January and 65.8 million owned smartphones.

Samsung was the top handset manufacturer overall with a 24.9-percent share of the US market, comScore said, followed by LG with 20.8 percent, Motorola with 16.5 percent, RIM with 8.6 percent and with 7.0 percent.