Smartphones now used by 1 in 4 US mobile subscribers

comScore’s quarterly mobile figures for the three months to October 2010 reveal that nearly 1 in 4 US mobile subscribers are on smartphones, and Android continues to grow with a substantial 6.5% growth rate in the last quarter.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

Of the 234 million Americans ages 13 and older who use mobile devices, 60.7 million of them owned smartphones, up 14% from the preceding three month period.

RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the US with 35.8% share of US smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 24.6% share (up 0.8 percentage points). Google Android saw another month of strong growth, rising 6.5 percentage points to capture 23.5% of smartphone subscribers. Microsoft accounted for 9.7% of smartphone subscribers, while Palm rounded out the top five with 3.9%. Despite losing share to Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.

Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Jul. 2010
Total US Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Jul-10 Oct-10 Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
RIM 39.3% 35.8% -3.5
Apple 23.8% 24.6% 0.8
Google Android 17.0% 23.5% 6.5
Microsoft 11.8% 9.7% -2.1
Palm 4.9% 3.9% -1.0

Mobile Content Usage

In October, browsers were used by 36.2% of US mobile subscribers (up 2.6 percentage points), and 33.7% of subscribers downloaded applications (an increase of 2.3 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.4 percentage points, representing 24.2% of mobile subscribers. Playing games represented 23.7% of the mobile audience (up 1.4 percentage points), while listening to music increased 0.9 percentage points, representing 15.4% of subscribers.

Mobile Content Usage
3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Jul. 2010
Total US Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
Jul-10 Oct-10 Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
Sent text message to another phone 66.0% 68.1% 2.1
Used browser 33.6% 36.2% 2.6
Used downloaded apps 31.4% 33.7% 2.3
Accessed social networking site or blog 21.8% 24.2% 2.4
Played Games 22.3% 23.7% 1.4
Listened to music on mobile phone 14.5% 15.4% 0.9

OEM Market Share

Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.2% of US mobile subscribers, up 1.1 percentage points from the three month period ending in July. LG ranked second with 21.0% share, followed by Motorola (17.7% share), RIM (9.3% share, up 0.3 percentage points) and Nokia (7.1% share).

Top Mobile OEMs
3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Jul. 2010
Total US Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
Jul-10 Oct-10 Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
Samsung 23.1% 24.2% 1.1
LG 21.2% 21.0% -0.2
Motorola 19.8% 17.7% -2.1
RIM 9.0% 9.3% 0.3
Nokia 7.8% 7.1% -0.7
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