comScore have tallied the numbers and have come up with a report on phone usage in the US for the three month period that ends in August. They surveyed 30,000 people for the report of the 234 million American phone users over the age of 13.
Let's start with the smartphone OSes. According to comScore, Android is the leading platform by a wide margin. A margin that keeps growing no less. Apple's iOS is a solid second and is the only other OS that saw its share grow in the US.
An old time favorite, BlackBerry OS saw a 5% drop over the three month period. Microsoft's mobiles OSes combined mustered up only 5.7% and the barely there Symbian OS fell to 1.8%.
| Top Smartphone Platforms 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens | |||
| Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers | |||
| May-11 | Aug-11 | Point Change | |
| Total Smartphone Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| 38.1% | 43.7% | 5.6 | |
| Apple | 26.6% | 27.3% | 0.7 |
| RIM | 24.7% | 19.7% | -5.0 |
| Microsoft | 5.8% | 5.7% | -0.1 |
| Symbian | 2.1% | 1.8% | -0.3 |
Apple is fourth by number of phones in the US market, counting feature phones and smartphones. They jumped from 8.7% to 9.9% over just three months. Samsung is holding fast to the first place and saw a 0.5% increase in market share.
All others lost market share. Motorola for one will soon be in danger of losing its third place to Apple, as the buffer between the two shrunk with 2.2%.
| Top Mobile OEMs 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens | |||
| Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | |||
| May-11 | Aug-11 | Point Change | |
| Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| Samsung | 24.8% | 25.3% | 0.5 |
| LG | 21.1% | 21.0% | -0.1 |
| Motorola | 15.1% | 14.0% | -1.1 |
| Apple | 8.7% | 9.8% | 1.1 |
| RIM | 8.1% | 7.1% | -1.0 |
comScore also studied how people in the US use their phones. Changes were pretty small, but it's interesting to note that all categories grew - which suggests that Americans are spending more and more time on their phones.
| Mobile Content Usage 3 Month Avg. Ending Aug. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending May 2011 Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens | |||
| Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | |||
| May-11 | Aug-11 | Point Change | |
| Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| Sent text message to another phone | 69.5% | 70.5% | 1.0 |
| Used browser | 39.8% | 42.1% | 2.3 |
| Used downloaded apps | 38.6% | 41.6% | 3.0 |
| Accessed social networking site or blog | 28.6% | 30.9% | 2.3 |
| Played Games | 26.9% | 28.5% | 1.6 |
| Listened to music on mobile phone | 18.6% | 20.7% | 2.1 |
You can read comScores full report for some more details on their study.
