Android widens market lead over Apple iOS in US

Google's Android OS has taken a wider lead over Apple Inc.'s iOS in the United States, according to figures from research firm ComScore. Tech site CNET reported ComScore figures showed Android took 43.7 percent of the U.S. smartphone OS market during the three-month period that ended August 2011. It was a 5.6-percent increase from the 38.1-percent market share it had at the end of May, CNET said. Citing ComScore figures, CNET noted the total number of people who owned smartphones in the U.S. during the three-month period that ended August grew 10 percent from the prior three-month period, to 84.5 million. Apple's market share was second at 27.3 percent - a slight improvement fromthe 26.6-percent share it had at the end of May. Third was Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS, with a 19.7-percent market share - down five percentage points from 24.7 percent in May. Microsoft's two operating systems, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7, had a 5.7-percent share, beating Symbian's 1.8-percent share. Extent of Android's dominance CNET noted, however, that the extent of Android's dominance in that space is still debatable. It cited findings by another research firm, NPD, that Android was running on 52 percent of all the smartphones sold in the U.S. during the second quarter. NPD added iOS was second with 29 percent; BlackBerry OS third with 11 percent; and Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile, and WebOS with less than five percent each. Popular vendors ComScore also examined the most popular vendors during the three-month period that ended August. Its figures showed 25.3 percent of all mobile subscribers in the U.S. were running a Samsung device, 21 percent an LG device, and 14 percent a Motorola device. About 9.8 percent of US mobile subscribers had an Apple device. But despite its fourth-place status, Apple had the strongest quarter-over-quarter growth of any company, ComScore said. It said Apple jumped 1.1 percentage points while Samsung, the only other vendor to see growth during the period, jumped 0.5 percentage points. The study also showed 70.5 percent of all mobile subscribers in the U.S. sent a text message during the three-month period that ended August. The second-most-popular activity was surfing the Web, with 42.1 percent of folks starting up the browser on their devices. ComScore also said 41.6 percent of subscribers used downloaded apps. — TJD, GMA News