NPD: Android now the No. 2 smartphone OS

Buoyed by strong consumer interest in devices like the Motorola Droid, Google's Android mobile operating system now represents 28 percent of smartphone unit sales in the U.S.--behind only Research In Motion's BlackBerry (36 percent) and moving past Apple's iPhone (21 percent)--according to new data issued by market research firm NPD Group. Carrier distribution and promotion are critical to Android's growth, NPD said: "In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones," said NPD executive director of industry analysis Ross Rubin in a prepared statement.

AT&T accounted for 32 percent of all U.S. smartphone sales in Q1, followed by Verizon Wireless at 30 percent, T-Mobile USA at 17 percent and Sprint at 15 percent. NPD credits the continued popularity of messaging phones and smartphones for boosting the price of mobile devices despite an overall drop in the number of handsets purchased during the first quarter: The average U.S. selling price for all mobile phones reached $88 in Q1, up 5 percent year-over-year, while unit prices slipped to $151, down 3 percentage points compared to the previous year. "Carriers continue to offer attractive pricing for devices, but will need to present other data-plan options to attract more customers in the future," Rubin said.

For more on NPD's Q1 smartphone report:
- read this release [1]

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Google's Android [2] surpasses 50,000 applications
Google aggressively wooing iPhone developers to Android [3]
Can Google solve Android [4] fragmentation?
ABI forecasts 800 million Android [5] app downloads in 2010
IDC anticipates Android [6] shipments will near 70 million by 2013