Android and iPhone Own Nearly The Entire U.S. Smartphone Market

[MacRumors]

The latest data from Nielsen suggests that between the two of them, Android and Apple's iOS have relegated other smartphone operating systems to sub-single digit market share. The closest competitor -- RIM's Blackberry -- counted only 5% of U.S. smartphone purchases in the past three months. Other operating systems, including Windows Phone, Symbian, HP/Palm's WebOS and others, added up to only 4% share combined.

Overall, Android continues to lead the smartphone market in the U.S., with 48 percent of smartphone owners saying they owned an Android OS device. Nearly a third (32.1%) of smartphone users have an Apple iPhone, and Blackberry owners represented another 11.6 percent of the smartphone market. Among recent acquirers who got their smartphone within the last three months, 48 percent of those surveyed in February said they chose an Android and 43 percent bought an iPhone.

Android's performance is pretty constant, with 48% of existing smartphone owners and 48% of new smartphone purchasers choosing Android phones.

Apple's iPhone has been more popular of late, with the recent release of the iPhone 4S. The iPhone is the device of choice for 32% of current smartphone owners, but has made up 43% of recent smartphone purchases -- entirely at the expense of BlackBerry and the other small-share operating systems.

Article Link: Android and iPhone Own Nearly The Entire U.S. Smartphone Market

 

[chrono1081]

I guess "Research In Motion" didn't research enough to stay on top

I'm actually glad to see this, supporting Blackberries always sucked where as supporting iOS and Android are very easy.

 

[charlieegan3]

I wonder who the next big player of the future will be...

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I guess "Research In Motion" didn't research enough to stay on top

I'm actually glad to see this, supporting Blackberries always sucked where as supporting iOS and Android are very easy.

can't help but think it's a lack of market diversity though.

 

[maflynn]

Not good news for WP7 phones, and RIM is still in crash & burn status

 

[Consultant]

Not good news for WP7 phones, and RIM is still in crash & burn status

But at least RIM is making some money, while Nokia needed MS money to make W7 phones.

 

[TallManNY]

I wonder who the next big player of the future will be...

----------



can't help but think it's a lack of market diversity though.

Don't you think the Windows phone is going to start to have a growing market share? Microsoft has deep pockets and I suspect they will support it very strongly.

 

[nwcs]

The good news is that there is a lot of money in the consumer space. The bad news is that consumers are fickle for the next shiny thing -squirrel!- so Android and iOS can't rest on laurels or presume to maintain dominance. Someone else will come along and disrupt their market eventually. As someone invested with ios, I hope Apple won't get complacent and continues to focus on user experience and reliability over bullet point features.

 

[parish]

Wirelessly posted

I think they mean sub-double digit, or just single-digit, market share. Sub single digit means less than 1%

 

[Mortalias]

"And then there were two." - Unknown

"And I will kick the other one's a**" - Steve Jobs

 

[thuchu1]

Add a second question to this

When someone says they use a RIM phone, the next question should be "is it a employer-issued device?". Just about every person at my work is ready to hop over to iOS from RIM as soon as they exit beta-testing.

 

[maflynn]

But at least RIM is making some money, while Nokia needed MS money to make W7 phones.

Agreed, but if the trend continues, RIM will be losing money as fast as they lose marketshare.

Nokia has bet the farm on WP7 and so far its not panning out for them

 

[summitRun]

That 5% number for RIM is mind blowing. Has any company squandered/mis-managed a brand (in N America) worse than they have in the past 5 years? I cant think of one. Very sad as I WAS a 6 year BB owner

 

[dampfnudel]

Wirelessly posted

It looks really bad for RIM. I wouldn't be surprised if some RIM employees are already looking around for new employment opportunities.

 

[NYR99]

Don't you think the Windows phone is going to start to have a growing market share? Microsoft has deep pockets and I suspect they will support it very strongly.

Right.... just like the Zune.

 

[fruitycups]

Wirelessly posted

Android is getting better.. Huh

 

[swarmster]

I wonder who the next big player of the future will be...

I'm curious, are you talking about 'the next big player' in general tech, or smartphones specifically?

Back in computer land, we haven't really seen a big player outside of Windows and Mac OS for decades. Not saying there has to be a parallel to be drawn, but markets don't always evolve in a consistent fashion.

 

[hobo.hopkins]

Don't you think the Windows phone is going to start to have a growing market share? Microsoft has deep pockets and I suspect they will support it very strongly.

I think that Microsoft would have a really tough time convincing people to switch from iOS or Android, since there is so much incentive to remain within each respective ecosystem. They would have to offer something truly convincing; I don't think their current offerings satisfy that.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Not good news for WP7 phones, and RIM is still in crash & burn status

Do not count MS out.

It is a safe bet that long term the big OS will be Windows Phone, Android and iOS. I would almost argue that it would go 1) Android 2) WP and 3) iOS.

Reason for it is iOS is limited to Apple only and the other are put on multiple different phones. Apple will more than likely still be #1 in single phone sells.

MS is willing to put the money to break into the market.

 

[fertilized-egg]

I guess "Research In Motion" didn't research enough to stay on top

At least they are on their own slice. Windows Phone 7 is lumped with Windows Mobile, Symbian, Bada, etc as "others" and all combined they still commanded less market share than RIM did.

Do not count MS out.

It is a safe bet that long term the big OS will be Windows Phone, Android and iOS. I would almost argue that it would go 1) Android 2) WP and 3) iOS.

One big problem I see with that theory is Android and WP compete directly against each other for OEM attention. There's Nokia who put their best effort with Windows Phone 7 but everyone else either did their Windows Phone 7 somewhat half heartedly, or did not do it at all.

In fact there has been some articles indicating LG is downscaling their Windows Phone effort for a number of reasons. There are only so many experienced mobile engineers in Samsung, HTC, LG, etc and companies have to decide where to concentrate. Windows Phone might gain some market traction, but I just don't see it get all that big unless it takes over Android.

 

[charlieegan3]

I'm curious, are you talking about 'the next big player' in general tech, or smartphones specifically?

Back in computer land, we haven't really seen a big player outside of Windows and Mac OS for decades. Not saying there has to be a parallel to be drawn, but markets don't always evolve in a consistent fashion.

smartphone OS market when/if iOS + android go the way of BlackBerry in years to come.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Do these stats include iPod Touch in the "iOS" block?

 

[BrandoFiasco]

I'm actually glad to see this, supporting Blackberries always sucked where as supporting iOS and Android are very easy.

So true. I die a little inside when a user needs Blackberry help.

 

[swarmster]

Do these stats include iPod Touch in the "iOS" block?

The iPod touch and iPad are not "Smartphones", so no.

 

[thekeyring]

RIM continues to do nothing drastic about market share.

Couldn't they release a new BB with a large touch screen, slide out keyboard, a decent camera and a lightening fast processor? Best of both worlds: a sleek touch screen and a qwerty keyboard for those who like that.

Make some decent apps for editing photos, video, documents, and some fun games. Also, make email easier to setup, please? Maybe then the slogan "tools not toys" would make more sense.

Release a new OS and a new dev kit that inspires developers to invest in your platform. Even if they gave away a high 90% revenue for the first 100 apps submitted to the App World or something?

 

[Konrad9]

I guess "Research In Motion" didn't research enough to stay on top

I'm actually glad to see this, supporting Blackberries always sucked where as supporting iOS and Android are very easy.

Except competition is good for the market and the consumer. The more competition, the more push there is to innovate and evolve.