A new report from comScore confirms what a lot of us already knew: the Google Android operating system is the fastest-growing platform in the United States.
The comScore data says that Android grew from 17% in July to 23.5% in October, representing a 6.5% improvement. Those numbers were undoubtedly helped by the release of high-profile devices like the Motorola Droid X and the plethora of Android devices from Samsung and its popular Galaxy S lineup.
We don’t expect the Android momentum to slow down any time soon, as we’re expecting multiple killer handsets over the next few months. The Motorola Olympus, the LG Star and the 4.5-inch screen Samsung device in particular should move a lot of units.
Research In Motion’s BlackBerry is still the leading platform in the United States, as comScore said it had 35.8% of the market in October. This was helped by the release of the BlackBerry Torch but the company still lost 3.5% market share since July.
The Apple iPhone continues to grow in popularity, as it ended October with 24.6%, a slight increase from the 23.8% it had a few months earlier. Apple has a chance to have a rapid increase in market share if an iPhone does come to Verizon in early 2011, as is heavily rumored.
The comScore report also found that Microsoft had 9.7% of the market but that was before the release of the Windows Phone 7 platform. The early sales figures for Windows Phone 7 haven’t been blockbuster status but the OS will eventually wind up on all four major carriers, so that should definitely help the adoption rate.
Palm finished October with about 4% and we’re anxious to see what HP can do to help goose those numbers in 2011.
Remember, even though some platforms may have lost market share, the overall growth of smartphone ownership means that each platform generally ended up with more overall users.
