Nielsen: Android and iOS continue to perform well in US, feature phones fading fast
Date:2012-07-13 View:

 
The two-horse race continues, with the latest data from market research company Nielsen showing Android and iOS continuing to perform well in the US.

Both Android and iOS smartphone devices continue to grow in popularity among US consumers, according to the latest data from market research firm Nielsen.

Data collected in the second quarter shows Google’s Android mobile operating system now has more than half the market, crossing the 50 percent threshold to take a 51.8 percent share, up from 48.5 percent in the previous quarter. For acquisitions made in the April to June period, this figure jumps to 54.6 percent


As for Apple (ipad case, iphone case, stand), its iOS mobile operating system now holds a 34.3 percent share of the smartphone market, up from 32 percent. The figure for acquisitions made in the last three months is higher, at 36.3 percent.

The figures will be painful reading for Research In Motion executives. Yes, RIM’s BlackBerry OS is among the losers according to Nielsen’s data, with its share dropping from 11.6 percent in the previous set of figures to 8.1 percent now. For the last three months alone, it’s even more grim for RIM, with the company taking just 4 percent of the market.

We shudder to think what this figure will be by the time the Waterloo, Ontario company releases its next-generation BlackBerry 10 devices, due early next year (unless they’re delayed again).

As for smartphone manufacturers, Apple has 34 percent of the market with its iPhone, while Samsung, with its enormous range of handsets, takes second spot with 17 percent of the market. HTC sits just behind Samsung with a 14 percent share. Windows is positioned low with Windows Mobile and Windows 7 taking a combined 4.3 percent of the market


With Samsung’s Galaxy S3 (Samsung Galaxy S3 case) handset expected to prove massively popular with consumers, and the possible launch of an iPhone 5 a little later in the year, the fight for supremacy in the smartphone market is about to enter a new phase.

Nielsen’s data also shows that feature phones are well and truly on their way out in the US, with two out of three consumers who acquired a mobile phone in the last three months opting for a smartphone over a feature phone.

By Trevor Mogg , copyright reserved by Digital Trends, Inc