Top Smartphone Operating Systems in US by Market Share

Internet marketing research company, comScore has released its latest data regarding the U.S. market share of smartphone operating systems. The findings reveal that while BlackBerry still dominates the field, Apple’s iPhone OS has for the first time taken the second spot once belonged to Windows Mobile.

The study, conducted for the three months ending October 2009, found that Apple’s iPhone usage has outranked Microsoft’s Windows Mobile in the U.S, with a user base of nearly 9 million compared to WinMo’s users base of 7.13 million. Three months before that, the two operating systems were neck and neck as they have about 6.6 million users respectively.

However, the iPhone still lags behind Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. Currently, almost 15 million people are using BlackBerry smartphones, making up around 40 percent share of the US smartphone market, compared to iPhone’s 25 percent. It looks like it is going to take some time for iPhone to become a real threat to the industry leader.

On the other hand, comScore pointed out Google’s Android is also a player that cannot be neglected. Although its market share is relatively small at 3.5 percent, it has more than doubled over the past year. According to comScore’s report, the consumer awareness of Google’s platform is rapidly rising, probably as a result of Verizon’s marketing campaign for Motorola Droid. Of those American consumers who want a new smartphone, 17 percent are considering an Android-based device, which is only 3 percent lower than the percentage of people leaning toward an iPhone.

"While iPhone continues to set the bar with its App Store and passionate user base, and RIM remains the leader among the business set, Android is clearly gaining momentum among developers and consumers," said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile.
As for the Pre's webOS, it is not included in the chart as it does not yet have a large enough installed base to be counted accurately.

With the arrival of new Android-based devices, more consumer-oriented BlackBerry smartphones and the highly anticipated iPhone 4G rumored to be released around June. The smartphone market is going to be shaken up in 2010.

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