Android-equipped smart phones continued to gain traction among U.S. consumers, growing to a 28.7 percent market share for the three-month period ending in December 2010, metrics company comScore Inc. reported Monday.
While BlackBerry parent Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) led with a 31.6 percent market share of total U.S. smart phone subscribers ages 13 and up from October 2010-December 2010, RIM’s market share dropped 5.7 percentage points while subscribers of smart phones equipped with Google’s Android platform gained 7.3 percentage points compared to the earlier three-month period, ended September 2010.
Apple’s iPhone platform, meanwhile, had a 25 percent market share among U.S. smart phone subscribers 13 and up for the three-month period ended in December, up 0.7 percentage points compared to the preceding three-month period.
Microsoft, with an 8.4 percent share of smart phone subscribers, lost 1.5 percentage points, while Palm, at 3.7 percent, lost 0.5 percentage points in the three-month period ended December 2010 compared to the preceding three months.
The report also found that Samsung smart phones held a 24.8 percent market share in the three-month period ended December 2010, up 1.3 percentage points, followed by LG at 20.9 percent (down 0.2 percentage points); Motorola at 16.7 percent (down 1.7 percentage points); RIM at 8.5 percent (down 0.8 percentage points); and Nokia at 7 percent (down 0.4 percentage points).
Mobile content usage gained across a range of categories for subscribers ages 13 and up, comScore also reported, with the percentage of mobile users sending text messages rising to 68 percent (up 1 percentage point) in the three-month period ended December 2010; the share of subscribers using a Web browser rising to 36.4 percent (up 1.3 percent); and the share of those downloading mobile apps rising to 34.4 percent (up 1.3 percent).
In a previous comScore report, released Jan. 6, 2011, Google’s Android platform had an estimated market share among U.S. smart phone subscribers of 26 percent during the three-month period ending November 2010, while RIM had an estimated 33.5 percent share and Apple had an estimated 25 percent share.
