Android is still proving to be a hot potato in the States, gaining on all the major smartphone platforms, with their market share soaring from 9 per cent of all U.S. smartphone users in February up to 13 percent in May.
Although Google’s open-source OS is accelerating in popularity, it’s still only the fourth-most-used mobile operating system in America, with Research In Motion (Blackberry) leading the pack at 41.7 percent (down from 42.1 percent).
Second placed Apple slipped down a full percent with a 24.4 percent share at the end of May, while Microsoft grimly clung on to third place with just 13.2 percent.
Still on an Android roll
Mark Donovan, analayst at comScore who commissioned the research, reckons Google’s strategy of allowing multiple handset makers to sell different versions of Android on a wide range of handsets is paying dividends: “I don’t see any sign that momentum around Android is slowing.”
Samsung rule
Rubbing their hands in glee at the rise of Android is Samsung Electronics.
With several Android handsets in their range, they’ve seen their rankings rise from third place to top spot among mobile-phone makers, with 22.4 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.S. using a Samsung device in May, up from 21.4 percent in February.
Donovan trowelled on the praise, commenting, “”Samsung has been excellent at filling that niche of … very inexpensive or giveaway phones that give consumers an awful lot of power.”
Samsung can’t afford to get complacent though, as both LG and Motorola are snapping at their heels with both trailing by just two -percentage points.
No top five for Apple
RIM sit in fourth place with 8.7 percent of the handset market and Nokia, who have never been as established in the States as they are in the rest of the world, have to satisfy themselves with 8.1 percent.
Apple fail to make the top five, holding on to just 5.1 percent of the handset market in May.
And now a quick factblast: according to comscore that are 234 million U.S. residents over 13 using mobile phones in May, and their mobile use figures are based on monthly surveys of between 10,000 and 12,000 U.S. mobile users over the age of 13.
[Via]
