Android, iOS both boost lead in U.S. smartphone market
Though Android is still firmly on top with 48 percent of the market, Apple's iOS racked up some gains with a 25 percent share.
Android and Apple both continue to dominate the U.S. smartphone market.
The latest stats, out yesterday from ComScore, showed that Android increased its lead by more than 2 percentage points during the three-month period ending in January. At the same time, iOS saw its share rise by 1.4 points. Both platforms enjoyed a prosperous holiday season, with a record number of device activations on Christmas and the surrounding days.
Other mobile platforms continued to lose market share to the top dogs.
BlackBerry maker RIM dropped two points to 15.2 percent over the three-month period seen by ComScore. Microsoft lost a point to sink to 4.4 percent. And Nokia's Symbian trailed, eking out a 1.5 percent share.
RIM has faced a tough climate as more of its once-core enterprise customers have been gravitating toward Android and iOS. Microsoft continues to struggle with Windows Phone, waiting to see if its partnership with Nokia can breathe some life into the smartphone businesses of both companies.
The number of smartphone owners in the U.S. blasted past the 100-million point in January, reaching 101.3 million subscribers, according to ComScore.
Looking strictly at smartphone manufacturers, Samsung kept its lead for the three months ending in January, with a 25 percent share of the market. The Korean handset maker saw a jump in sales and profits in the fourth quarter of last year, thanks to heavy demand for its Galaxy phones.
The surge in Android devices also made itself felt down the chain, putting LG in second place with almost 20 percent of the U.S. smartphone market and Motorola in third with 13 percent.
Apple again trailed, in fourth place. But it was the only smartphone maker among the top five to show a profit. Apple gained two points of market share from the previous three months to win almost 13 percent of the market. RIM found itself in last place with a 6.6 percent share, unchanged from the prior three months.
To compile its latest results, ComScore relied on data from its MobiLens service, which polled more than 30,000 mobile subscribers in the U.S.