Android continues to grab a section of the smartphone market and is just about ready to jump into the number three spot, behind RIM and Apple. ComScore’s latest numbers look at the three month period leading up to May and show that the Android platform gained four percentage points in that time period, pulling neck in neck with Microsft. In addition to Android, mobile Web usage itself is also on the rise, with numbers increasing across the board.
While ComScore’s numbers don’t include the launch of Apple’s iPhone 4, Apple’s smartphones are not the story here. They’re holding solid in second place with nearly a quarter of the market and maybe more. Android, however, is definitely gaining ground. For the three-month period leading up to last December, Google’s Android platform accounted for just 5.2% of smartphone devices. By last Februrary, it had nearly doubled to 9% and now it has grown again to 13%, gaining around 4% of the smartphone market every three months.
As a matter of fact, Google’s Android platform was the only one to gain any ground, percentage-wise, during the quarter, but comScore made sure to note that “despite losing share to Google Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.”
Android aside, ComScore also looks at mobile Web usage overall and notes a trend – it’s still growing. From using a mobile browser to downloading apps to accessing social networks, the mobile web continues to grow. The most common activity, of course, is sending text messages, with over 65% of mobile subscribers saying they have done so. But what sphere saw the most growth? You guessed it, accessing social networking sites and blogs, increasing 2.6 percentage points to just under 21% of all mobile subscribers.
For the full numbers and report, visit ComScore.
