ComScore MobiLens service released a report following key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending January 2012. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25 percent market share. Android continued to grow its share in the smartphone market, accounting for nearly half of smartphone subscribers. Of the 234 million Americans over the age of 13 that are using cell phones, 100 million of them are smartphones. 75 percent of all cell phone users are now texting
OEM Market Share
For the three-month average period ending in January, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.4 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 19.7 percent share and Motorola with 13.2 percent share. Apple continued to capture share in the OEM market with 12.8 percent of total mobile subscribers (up 2.0 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.6 percent.
Smartphone Platform Market Share
The number of U.S. smartphone subscribers surpassed the 100-million mark in January, up 13 percent since October to 101.3 million subscribers. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 48.6 percent market share (up 2.3 percentage points) followed by Apple with 29.5 percent market share (up 1.4 percentage points). RIM ranked third with 15.2 percent share, followed by Microsoft (4.4 percent) and Symbian (1.5 percent).
Mobile Content Usage
In January, 74.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 2.8 percentage points. Downloaded applications were used by 48.6 percent of subscribers (up 4.8 percentage points), while browsers were used by 48.5 percent (up 4.5 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 3.4 percentage points to 35.7 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 31.8 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.6 percentage points), while 24.5 percent listened to music on their phones (up 3.3 percentage points).
