Google’s Android smartphone mobile operating system (OS) and Samsung’s mobile phone handsets topped the rankings in their respective categories in the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to comScore’s latest MobiLens service report.
Some 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices in 3Q 2011. Android’s U.S. smartphone OS market share rose to 44.8 percent for the quarter, while Samsung was again the top handset manufacturer with a 25.3 percent market share.
Some 87.4 million Americans owned smartphones, a 12 percent quarterly increase. Android’s market share grew 4.6 percentage points in 3Q. Apple’s iOS market share increased 0.8 percent, to 27.4 percent, securing second place in the MobiLens’ ranking. RIM’s BlackBerry ranked third, its market share falling 4.6 percent to 18.9 percent. Microsoft and Symbian ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with both their market shares falling 0.2 percent, Microsoft’s to 5.6 percent and Symbian’s to 1.8 percent.
Ranking behind Samsung in the handset manufacturer category, LG captured 20.6 percent of the U.S. mobile phone market, down 0.7 percent. Motorola ranked third with a 13.8 percent share of the market, also down 0.7 percent. Apple ranked fourth with a 10.2 percent market share, up 1.3 percent, with RIM/BlackBerry ranking fifth with a 7.1% share of market, down 0.8 percent.
Looking at usage, 71.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile devices, up 1.5 percent. Browsers were used by 42.9 percent, up 2.8 percent, while downloaded applications were used by 42.5 percent, up 3 percent.
Accessing social networks or blogs rose 2.4 percent to 31.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers. Some 28.8 percent played games on their mobile devices, up 1.9 percent, while 20.9 percent listened to music, up 1.9 percent.
