[Techtaffy Newsdesk]
ComScore has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending March 2012. MobiLens data is derived from an online survey of mobile subscribers age 13 and older. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent’s primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent’s secondary device.
The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 26 percent market share. Google Android continued to grow its share in the U.S. smartphone market, accounting for 51 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple captured more than 30 percent.
OEM Market Share
For the three-month average period ending in March, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 26.0 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.7 percentage points), followed by LG with 19.3 percent share. Apple continued to gain share in the OEM market, ranking third with 14.0 percent of mobile subscribers (up 1.6 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 12.8 percent and HTC with 6.0 percent.
Smartphone Platform Market Share
More than 106 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in March, up 9 percent versus December. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 51 percent market share (up 3.7 percentage points). Apple’s share of the smartphone market increased 1.1 percentage points to 30.7 percent. RIM ranked third with 12.3 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.9 percent) and Symbian (1.4 percent).
Mobile Content Usage
In March, 74.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Downloaded applications were used by 50 percent of subscribers (up 2.4 percentage points), while browsers were used by 49.3 percent (up 1.8 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 0.8 percentage points to 36.1 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 32.6 percent of the mobile audience (up 1.2 percentage points), while 25.3 percent listened to music on their phones (up 1.5 percentage points).