Surprisingly, the US doesn’t have the highest per-capita Android ownership out there – at last count that goes to the UK, where one out of every four men, women and children owns an Android smartphone. But the US is catching up quickly. ComScore reports that Android accounted fora staggering 50.1% of smartphone owners in the United Stats as of February, a statistic that hasn’t been matched since Blackberry and Palm OS were duking it out. ComScore’s numbers show a 3.2% overall market share increase in the four-month period ending in February. Rival statistical firm NPD reached the same conclusion back in December.
Apple’s increased its market share as well, though not as much or as quickly as Android. iOS makes up 30.2% of the US smartphone market, combining with Android for a positively staggering 80% total share. Almost all of the gains on both platforms come at the expense of RIM (Blackberry), Microsoft and Nokia (Symbian). Despite a steady strema of new hardware, Blackberry use has declined to 13.4%, and Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7 is down 1.3 points to just 3.9% – from a world-beating 42% share back in 2007.
No doubt about it, Android is dominating when it comes to the smartphone space. Apple still has an undeniable lead in the tablet space, but that’s slowly and surely dwindling as well. Android seems to have finally graduated to a first-tier consideration among developers, too – long-time holdouts like Instagram and Temple Run are popping up, and major titles like Angry Birds Space get a day-one Android release. The further adoption of Ice Cream Sandwich can only improve matters.
