Android takes lead in US smartphone market

Phones based on Google's mobile software have for months outsold Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry. Now, by one take, they dominate the installed base as well.

The latest figures from market tracker Comscore, for the three months ending February 28, show that Google's Android mobile operating system now runs approximately one-third of smartphone devices in the US.

Comscore extrapolates marketshare figures by determining the platorm used by visitors to major websites.

Apple grew its share marginally (the company's total does not include iPads or the iPod Touch).

Google's growth, therefore, appears to be coming largely at the expense of BlackBerry manufacturer RIM, Microsoft, and Palm (now owned by HP), which saw market share percentage point losses of 4.6 percent, 1.3 percent, and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Surveys by Nielsen and others have shown Google Android devices (made by HTC, LG, Huawei, Motorola, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson and others) leading the pack in terms of new sales. Comscore's survey is one of the first to give Android smartphones a lead in terms of overall installed base.

The US has become the trend-setting smartphone market, so the figures seem good news for Telecom, which has made a big bet on Android.

Source: www.nbr.co.nz