comScore, Inc. today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending February 2011.
For the three month average period ending in February, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, up 0.3 percentage points from the three month period ending in November. LG ranked second with 20.9 percent share, followed by Motorola (16.1 percent) and RIM (8.6 percent). Apple saw the strongest gain, up 0.9 percentage points to account for 7.5 percent of subscribers, on momentum from the release of the Verizon iPhone, the most acquired handset in the month of February.
69.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in February 2011, up 13 percent from the preceding three-month period. Google Android grew 7.0 percentage points since November, strengthening its #1 position with 33.0 percent market share. RIM ranked second with 28.9 percent market share, followed by Apple with 25.2 percent. Microsoft (7.7 percent) and Palm (2.8 percent) rounded out the top five.
In February, 68.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Browsers were used by 38.4 percent of subscribers (up 3.1 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 36.6 percent of the mobile audience (up 3.2 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 3.3 percentage points, representing 26.8 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games represented 24.6 percent of the mobile audience, while listening to music represented 17.5 percent.
comScore, Inc. is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo
MacDailyNews Take: The Verizon iPhone 4 went on sale on February 10, 2011, so these numbers, which stretch back to November 2010, are only the faintest hint of what’s to come. The Verizon iPhone 4 was most acquired handset in the U.S. in February, despite being available for only 18 days that month.
and it didn’t count online sales from verizon or apple
Perhaps the most telling stat- Microsoft, with only a 9% smartphone market share, found a way to lose subscribers in the last 3 months in the midst of their media blitz. I remember a funerall for a smartphone up in Redmond last year, who was it for again? Chairs are a-flyin’!
I like their strategy, I like it a lot.
comScore is the same company who was accused of installing spyware on Macintoshes in June 2010 for the purpose of channeling data collection to their servers.
Intego was also providing free screensavers that were found to be aiding comScore in data collection.
The spyware was installed on the user’s computer without their knowledge for which there is no excuse.
Fsck comScore and their findings. Marketing companies are experts at spinning the data any way you like.
I hadn’t heard of Intego providing infected screensavers, so I did some quick research.
I have no interest in Intego and do not use their products. I merely aim to set the record straight.
Intego DID NOT distribute infected screensavers and other software. They found infected software, and let the world know about it!
Some relevant articles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/jun/02/apple-spyware-intego-discovery
http://themacfeed.com/2010/06/intego-the-creators-of-virus-barrier-have-discovered-opinionspy/
And as reported by MDN:
You’re right. It was Intego warning the Mac community about spyware being planted by a russian company named 7art.
Thanks for setting the facts straight.
However, I still believe 7art was working in concert with comScore, so my feelings about them, nor the veracity of their findings, changes one bit.
These numbers do not make any sense, how does 0.9 in all mobile phones resuce to just 0.2 in Smartphone? I expected the gain to be higher in Smartphones since Apple sells only Smartphones. Am I missing something?
@MDN
These numbers makes sense only if Android is a Net Negative for the OEMs that push it. If Apple gained a bigger share in ALL phones and less in smartphones it means that Android OEMs lost tons of units that Android was not able to replace. I think this is the STORY that is dying to be told. Look at those Android pushers in the all phones table, hopeless.
Nuh-UH! Verizon iPhone 4 didn’t sell at all, cuz there were like, totally no lines! All the mainstream media articles said so!
——RM
Wait, what about those articles which stated authoritatively that the Thunderbolt was the hottest VZ phone? Now I don’t know who to believe!!!
http://iphone.macnn.com/articles/11/03/31/btig.says.thunderbolt.and.iphone.sales.even/
Oh! and by the way – SecureMac and MacScan are sooooo bogus!
The best smartphone, now on the shittiest network! Can you hear me scamming you now?
I read a “news” story based on this report which was twisted to prove that Android is beating the pants off iOS. comScore’s odd selection of a quarterly duration, Dec through Feb, misses the iPhone product cycle. Let’s check the May one.
Granted, Android is growing at the expense of RIM, MS, and Palm, which you would expect when their OS is free and the handsets are sold for little or no profit. But in the widely varied circles I frequent, the iPhone is virtually universal, making me wonder who actually is buying Android phones.
Does no one actually get it. There is no Android platform. Whatever is out there is hacked and fragmented into the same crap that existed for these “smartphones” before the iPhone. Now each company is taking a basic program and making it there platform. If market share is being determined, don’t measure by OS, measure by company HTC is not the same as Moto or Samsung or anything else. If you hack up a platform and change it to what you want it is no longer that platform. When someone makes a filet mignon with bernaise sauce it is quite different than a brisket or a burger. They are both beef, but they are different dishes completely. Apple should be compared to all the other smartphone makers when looking at market share and profit. A free platform used to launch other compeletely incompatible platforms is not a consumer platform. It is like comparing Apple’s market share vs mircrowave’s market share.
Kind of off topic: what a great April Fool’s present. Yesterday morning 3G service came to the little town of Jackson, MI.
Thanks AT&T!!
I’m still excited!!!
wiTh dAta rePorTINg from comPanieS wITh naMes likE ThaT, it muST me gooD NeWs!