Today Nielsen is reporting that Google’s mobile operating system Android now has the largest smartphone operating system (OS) market share here in the U.S. The top three mobile operating systems, according to this new data, are Android (39%), Apple’s iOS (28%) and RIM (20%).
However, Apple is the top manufacturer of smartphones. This claim is mainly due to the fact that Apple ships its own phones, while Android is spread out across a number of OEM’s, including leading manufacturers like HTC, Motorola and Samsung.
Android Still Number One
We thought this “Android is #1” headline sounded vaguely familiar, and it is. In March, Nielsen reported the same thing. So the news today is not so much about Android moving into the number one spot, as it is an update on where things stand now. Yep, Android’s still there at #1. And it has even a bigger market share than before.
To compare, in March, Nielsen reported that Android had 29% consumer market share in the U.S., while Apple’s iOS and RIM’s BlackBerry OS were a close second at 27% each. Today, those numbers are 39%, 28% and 20%, respectively. In other words, both Android and Apple are gaining here at RIM’s expense.
It’s also interesting to see how the smartphone manufacturers have benefited from the Android surge. HTC’s Android market share is up from 12% in March to 14% in June. Motorola went from 10% to 11%, and Samsung went from 5% to 8%.
Of course, these manufacturers put out other phones besides Android phones, and those trends are pictured here, too. Wow, does that show HTC’s Windows Mobile/Phone marketshare dropping a percentage point from March to June? And webOS dropped, too?
March 2011
June 2011
