comScore’s latest MobiLens data for the three months ending May 2010 shows a significant 4% rise in the Google Android smartphone market compared to a fall in the Apple IOS, RIM, Microsoft and Palm smartphone markets. However while this all seems to be going in Google’s favour it has to be remembered that many Apple owners were probably holding back on purchasing while they waited for the iPhone 4 to arrive. Additionlly it has to be remembered that Android is still less than half of Apple’s subscriber base, and it’s a third of RIM’s so there’s a lot of catching up to be done. However next quarter’s figures will be very interesting indeed.
Smartphone Platform Market Share
For the 3 month average period ending in May, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Of those 234 million people 49.1 million owned smartphones, up 8.1 percent from the corresponding February period. RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 41.7 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 24.4 percent share and Microsoft with 13.2 percent. Google saw significant growth during the period, up 4.0 percentage points to capture 13.0 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Palm rounded out the top five with 4.8 percent. Despite losing share to Google Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.
| Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Avg. Ending May 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2010 Total U.S. Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
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| Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers | ||||
| Feb-10 | May-10 | Point Change | ||
| Total Smartphone Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A | |
| RIM | 42.1% | 41.7% | -0.4 | |
| Apple | 25.4% | 24.4% | -1.0 | |
| Microsoft | 15.1% | 13.2% | -1.9 | |
| 9.0% | 13.0% | 4.0 | ||
| Palm | 5.4% | 4.8% | -0.6 | |
Mobile Content Usage
65.2 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device in May, up 1.4 percentage points versus the prior three month period, while browsers were used by 31.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.3 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 30.0 percent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the previous period. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs also saw significant growth, increasing 2.6 percentage points to 20.8 percent of mobile subscribers.
| Mobile Content Usage
3 Month Avg. Ending May 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2010 Total U.S. Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
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| Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | ||||
| Feb-10 | May-10 | Point Change | ||
| Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A | |
| Sent text message to another phone | 63.8% | 65.2% | 1.4 | |
| Used browser | 29.6% | 31.9% | 2.3 | |
| Used downloaded apps | 27.9% | 30.0% | 2.1 | |
| Played games | 21.8% | 22.5% | 0.7 | |
| Accessed social networking site or blog | 18.2% | 20.8% | 2.6 | |
| Listened to music on mobile phone | 13.1% | 14.3% | 1.2 | |
Top manufacturer
Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 22.4 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, up one percentage point from the preceding three month period. LG ranked second with 21.5 percent share, followed by Motorola (21.2 percent share), RIM (8.7 percent share, up 0.5 percentage point) and Nokia (8.1 percent share).
| Top Mobile OEMs
3 Month Avg. Ending May 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2010 Total U.S. Age 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens |
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| Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | ||||
| Feb-10 | May-10 | Point Change | ||
| Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A | |
| Samsung | 21.4% | 22.4% | 1.0 | |
| LG | 21.7% | 21.5% | -0.2 | |
| Motorola | 22.3% | 21.2% | -1.1 | |
| RIM | 8.2% | 8.7% | 0.5 | |
| Nokia | 8.7% | 8.1% | -0.6 | |
UPDATE – As a reader correctly pointed out there’s no Symbian market share in comScore’s figures, so where are the Symbian figures? The quick answer is it seems comScore aren’t bothered with Symbian so they just ignore it. If you add up the percentages comScore gives you get less than 100%, and with a little judicious checking of previous figures it looks like the missing percentage is the Symbian percentage, so here’s the last six months Symbian figures
| Date | RIM | Apple | Microsoft | Palm | Symbian | |
| Sept. 2009 | 42.60% | 24.10% | 19% | 8.30% | 2.50% | 3.50% |
| Oct. 2009 | 41.30% | 24.80% | 19.70% | 7.80% | 2.80% | 3.60% |
| Nov. 2009 | 40.80% | 25.50% | 19.10% | 7.20% | 3.80% | 3.60% |
| Dec. 2009 | 41.60% | 25.30% | 18% | 5.20% | 6.10% | 3.80% |
| Jan. 2010 | 43% | 25.10% | 15.70% | 5.70% | 7.10% | 3.40% |
| Feb. 2010 | 42.10% | 25.40% | 15.10% | 5.40% | 9% | 3.00% |
| May. 2010 | 41.70% | 24.40% | 13.20% | 4.80% | 13% | 2.90% |
And as you can see from these figures Symbian has slipped by around 23% in the last three months.
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