Google Android continued to widen its lead in the US smartphone market in February 2012, crossing the 50% threshold to capture a majority share for the first time in its history, according to data from comScore.
Android accounted for 50.1% of smartphone subscribers in the three months ended February, up 3.2 percentage points (PPs) from the previous three-month period; Apple followed with 30.2% of market share, up 1.5 PPs, while RIM continued to lose share, to 13.4% of smartphone audiences, down 3.2 PPs from the previous three-month period.
Microsoft fell 1.3 PPs to 3.9% of smartphone market share as of February, followed by Symbian with 1.5%.
Apple Gains More Ground Among Handset Manufacturers
The top handset-maker, Samsung Electronics, held on to its lead with 25.6% of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) share as of February, while LG Electronics and Motorola both lost share, down 1.1 PPs and 0.9 PPs, respectively, over the preceding three-month period.
Apple recorded the only major gain in OEM market share, rising 2.3 PPs to 13.5% as of February.
Mobile Content Use
Among US mobile subscribers, mobile content use continued to grow as of the February study period:
- 74.8% used text messaging on their mobile device, up 2.2 PPs from the previous three-month period.
- 36.1% accessed social media sites or blogs, up 3.1 PPs.
- 49.2% accessed a browser, up 4.8 PPs.
Downloaded applications were used by 49.5% of subscribers as of February (up 4.6 PPs from the previous three-month period), while game-playing was conducted by 32.3% of mobile audiences (up 2.6 PPs).
One-quarter (24.8%) of mobile subscribers listened to music on their phones as of February, up 3.1 PPs from the previous three-month period.
About the data: comScore's MobiLens data are based on a survey of more than 30,000 US mobile age 13 and older, conducted in February 2012. Data on mobile phone use refers to a respondent's primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent's secondary device.
