Android now has first place in the US smartphone market, with both Apple and RIM fighting hard for second place.
According to August data from Nielsen Company, Android is now the most popular operating system among people who bought a smartphone in the past six months, while Blackberry RIM and Apple iOS are in a statistical dead heat for second place among recent acquirers.
The Nielsen data covers a period that includes a full-month of iPhone 4 availability. (The device became available at the end of June 2010).
Android edged into the lead in July with 28% of the new market compared to 26% for RIM and Apple, but it now has a comfortable lead of over 7% that looks unassailable. It’s quite amazing too look at just how quickly Amazon has achieved the majority share as back in Janurary it was at just 14%.
Among all smartphone owners, Blackberry still holds the dominant share with 31% of the total market, though its lead over Apple is declining, and it’s just a matter of months until they drop below Apple as the huge iPhone 4 sales start to come into effect. From the graph it looks like Android will take top position sometime early in 2011. Android is currently adding 2-3% a month to it’s market share, and Apple currently has 28% of the smartphone market compared to 19% who have Android devices.
Microsoft will have to pull something big out when they launch Windows Mobile 7 on Monday if they want to get ahead in the market. However the zero to hero rise of Android shows that it can be done and give the right wind we could see this become an exciting four horse race.
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