Android Is Top Smartphone Operating System

ComScore data shows that Android has a 36% market share, followed by 26% for the Apple operating system

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/3/2011 6:40:56 PM

In another sign of the growing popularity of the Google's Android operating system that has made it increasingly important for app developers, ComScore is reporting that Android grew its market share among smartphones to 36.4% in April, up 5.2 percentage points.

The study's data for operating systems is important for TV and entertainment companies because they show which phones and operating systems are important for their future app development plans.

The new ComScore data found that the second most popular operating system, Apple, increased its market share slightly by 1.2 percentage points to 26.0% and moving up to second place. RIM, meanwhile, declined by 4.7 percentage points to third place with a 25.7% market share. Microsoft at 6.7% and Palm at 2.6%, rounded out the top smart phone operating systems.

ComScore also noted that the number of smartphones increased in April by 13%, with 74.6 million Americans now owning a smartphone.

The most recent ComScore study, which is based on a survey of more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers, shows a three month average for January 11 to April 11 period.

It also found that about 234 million American aged 13 and over used a mobile device and that Samsung was the top handset manufacturer with 24.5 percent market share, followed by LG with 20.9 percent share and Motorola with 15.6 percent share. Apple phones jumped to the number 4 position with 8.3 percent share of all mobile subscribers (up 1.3 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 8.2 percent share.

The study also found that 68.8% of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Browsers were used by 39.1% of subscribers (up 2.1 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 37.8% (up 2.4 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.7 percentage points, with 28.0% using those sites. Another 26.2 percent of the mobile audience played games (up 2.5 percentage points) and 18.0% listened to music.