Apple’s iconic iPhone, despite increasing pressure from Google, has 25 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, keeping it in the No. 2 slot, according to a new study. Apple’s domestic market share actually grew 1.2 percent as rivals lost ground.
The ComScore Mobile Subscriber Market Share research measured the period ended December, 2009. Although RIM remains the No. 1 smartphone in the U.S. with 41.6 percent, its shares fell 1 percent compared to September. Microsoft, in third place, had 18 percent, losing 1 percent from the September quarter.
Palm saw the biggest drop, from 8.3 percent in September to 6.1 percent in December. Google, powered by its many Android-based smartphones, is nipping at Palm’s fourth place. The Mountain View, Calif. firm saw an impressive 2.7 percent jump in market share, according to ComScore.
Motorola remains the top overall U.S. cell phone maker with 23.5 percent of the U.S. market. Overall, there were 234 million cell phone users in the U.S. over the age of 13. Sending text messages led with 63 percent as the most popular use of the handsets. Web browsing was used by 27.5 percent, followed by games (21.6 percent), downloading apps (17.8 percent) and music (12.1 percent).
The ComScore study comes a week after IDC reported Apple had 14.4 percent of the smartphone global market.
In a related survey, 14 percent of iPhone owners installed iPhone OS 3.1.3 less than one week after the update was released. The update fixed several security holes, a battery reporting problem and trouble launching third-party applications.
[Via AppleInsider]
