Nielsen: Android leapfrogs iOS in U.S. smartphone share

Devices running Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android mobile operating system now represent a 29 percent share of the U.S. smartphone market, accelerating past Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry at 27 percent each, according to new data published by The Nielsen Company. 

When Nielsen last broke down the U.S. smartphone market in January 2011, iOS led at 28.6 percent--BlackBerry represented 26.1 percent market share, trailed by Android at 25.8 percent. Looking at the rest of the nationwide smartphone segment, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile now trails at 10 percent, followed by webOS at 4 percent and Symbian at 2 percent.

Looking at smartphone manufacturers, Apple and RIM are far ahead of their rivals at 27 percent each--both are the sole companies producing devices based on their respective proprietary platforms. Twelve percent of U.S. smartphone owners tote an HTC Android device, and another 7 percent wield a Windows-based HTC handset. In addition, 10 percent of smartphone owners carry an Android phone produced by Motorola, and 1 percent own a Windows-based Motorola device.

Subscribers between the ages of 25 and 34 remain the sweet spot of the U.S. smartphone user market, accounting for a combined 27 percent of smartphone users across all platforms, Nielsen notes. Users ages 35 to 44 follow at 22 percent. Android users skew slightly younger than their counterparts: Android owners between the ages of 18 and 24 account for 6 percent of the entire U.S. smartphone user population.

For more:
- read this Nielsen Wire blog entry

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