Mobile Devices | News

Android Continues To Gain Momentum

• By Keith Ward
• 12/09/10

By the end of 2010, it's likely that Android will have surpassed the iPhone in market share in the United States, becoming the second-most popular smart phone platform, and on its way to becoming No. 1 some time next year.

Research company comScore, in its latest smart phone usage report, showed Google's mobile OS skyrocketing in usage, up to 23.5 percent since July 2010. That represents an increase of 6.5 points. The only other OS to show positive growth in the same timeframe was Apple's iOS, which powers the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. iOS gained less than a point, ticking up from 23.8 percent to 24.6 percent. As recently as July, Android was nearly seven points behind iOS. The latest figures put Android within striking distance of iOS.

The big loser was Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry, which continues to hemmorhage users. RIM usage fell 3.5 points, from 39.3 percent to 35.8 percent, in the quarter. Microsoft also took a substantial hit, losing 2.1 points in share, diving from 11.8 percent to 9.7 percent. It should be noted that Microsoft's figures may not represent a trend, since its latest entry in the market, Windows Phone 7, was released at the end of October. Palm's OS dropped a point, from 4.9 percent to 3.9 percent.

ComScore said that 60.7 million people in the United States owned smartphones in October, a 14 percent increase from the previous quarter. So even though three out of the five manufacturers lost share between July and October, the number of phones sold by each will likely continue to grow, given the strength of the segment.