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Study: iPhone beats Windows Mobile in market share

Apple's iPhone has passed Windows Mobile in terms of operating-system market share for smartphones, according to a report from ComScore. But BlackBerry is still tops.

Jim Dalrymple Special to CNET News
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop.
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Jim Dalrymple

Apple's iPhone has topped Microsoft's Windows Mobile in U.S. market share of smartphone operating systems for the first time, putting it in the No. 2 spot, according to a report from ComScore released Thursday.

Apple

In February, 5.2 million respondents to ComScore's survey reported using Apple's iPhone, while 6.8 million reported using phones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile, according to a report on FierceDeveloper. ComScore, a market research firm, averages results in a three-month period.

In May, Apple's number rose to 5.7 million, then 6.6 million in July, and finally to a high of 8.9 million for October, the most recent period for which results are available. In comparison, Microsoft rose in May to 7 million, dropped in July to 6.6 million, and went back up in October to 7.1 million.

The highest market share numbers in the survey go to Research In Motion's BlackBerry. It registered 9.6 million in February, 12.2 million in May, 13 million in July, and 14.9 million in October.

It's interesting to note that Palm's number rose from 2.3 million to 2.8 million in 2009, and Google's Android operating system rose to a high of 1 million by October.

The survey asked U.S. mobile subscribers, who had to be over the age of 13, what type of phone they use. ComScore then figured out what operating system they were using and calculated the data for the report.