Tuesday 3 January 2012

Android Continues to Dominate U.S. Smartphone Market


Google's Android operating system maintained its position as the top smartphone OS in the U.S. last month, with Samsung-based devices leading the way, according to data from comScore.

In November, about 46.9 percent of smartphones in the U.S. were Android-based, up about 3.1 percent from three months before. Apple came in at number two with 28.7 percent, a 1.4 percent jump. RIM was number three, but its 16.6 percent share was a 3.1 percent drop from August.

Rounding out the top five were Microsoft's Windows Phone with 5.2 percent, a 0.5 percent slip, and Symbian with 1.5 percent, down 0.3 percent. (For more, see How Symbian's Endurance Leaves Room for Windows Phone.)

Android and iOS market share will likely continue to rise this month. According to post-Christmas stats from Flurry, device activations surged 353 percent over the holiday weekend. Between Dec. 1-20, there were about 1.5 million Android devices and iPhones activated on a daily basis. But that jumped to 6.8 million on Christmas, Flurry said. Some people, however, did not receive an iPhone in their stocking and took to Twitter to vent their (bratty) frustrations.

The most recent version of Android, known as Ice Cream Sandwich (see slideshow below), made its debut here on Dec. 15 with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Various handset makers have since announced plans to support ICS, but nailing down exact release dates has been a bit difficult, prompting PCMag's Jamie Lendino to suggest that Google's Android Update Alliance Is Already Dead.

Among all mobile devices, meanwhile, Samsung was the top manufacturer with 25.6 percent of the U.S. market, up 0.3 percent. LG and Motorola rounded out the top three, though both took a slight tumble. Apple was fourth at 11.2 percent, up 1.4 percent, followed by RIM with 6.5 percent, a 0.6 percent decline.

Earlier this month, Samsung said it sold more than 300 million handsets this year, the first time it has cracked that number.

The most popular activity on these devices, meanwhile, was texting?72.6 percent of the 30,000 people polled by comScore reported sending text messages, up 2.1 percent from August. Downloading apps was also popular, with 44.9 percent of phone owners participating, a 3.3 percent increase, followed by using the browser at 44.4 percent.

For more, see PCMag's year in review of Apple, Google, Microsoft, and RIM.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/breakingnews/~3/Mpo6QadZRjQ/0,2817,2398224,00.asp

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