Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems continue to grow at the expense of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion.
comScore’s latest numbers for the months June-August show Android and Apple continued their growth in the U.S. smartphone space, while the percentage of BlackBerrys is still falling. Android rose from 38.1 percent share to 43.7 percent in the last quarter of the researcher’s study. Apple had modest growth – from 26.6 to 27.3 percent, not bad for just offering one phone. RIM fell from 24.7 to 19.7 percent.
The firm found that 84.5 million people in the U.S now own smartphones, up 10 percent from May.
comScore’s survey of 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers also ranked manufacturers of all handsets, finding Samsung to be top dog, with a little more than one-quarter of the market (25.3 percent). LG, Motorola, Apple and RIM rounded out the top five, but of those, only Samsung and Apple recorded growth.
What are people doing with their phones? A lot of texting, Web surfing and application downloading. All three were up in the last three months, anywhere from 1 to 3 percentage points. Nearly one-third (30.9 percent) of mobile subscribers are now using their handsets for social networking. Gaming and listening to music were also up.
