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comScore: Android Tops BlackBerry to Become No. 1 Smartphone Platform in the US

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Move over Apple. Move over RIM. There’s a new sheriff in town and they call him Android. According to comScore’s latest data, Google’s smartphone OS has overtaken the long-reigning BlackBerry for the title of number one smartphone platform in the United States. Holding 31.2 percent of smartphone market share, Android narrowly edged out BlackBerry, which holds on with 30.4 percent. Both sit ahead of Apple’s iOS, which rests at 24.7 percent.

Taking a look at trending data shows the future looks grim for BlackBerry and RIM with a share that has continually declined over the past year. Apple has lost some ground, but remains fairly steady, while Android has seen its figures sky rocket from below 10 percent of total share a year ago.

It is important to note that this data only runs through January 2011, so the figures for February and March may look a bit different considering the iPhone’s availability spread to Verizon last month. The effect the end of iPhone exclusivity had on the smartphone market is not yet fully known, but we expect some interesting numbers.

[via CNN]

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32 Comments

  1. First as usual

  2. Whats wild is Microsoft, with the release of WP7, is still declining…
    .
    Looks like MS might need Nokia more than Nokia needs MS..
    .
    Also notice how Apple doesnt fall or rise…That means still not alot of new iPhone users. Amazing with the iPhone 4 selling so much last year. Looks like it went to upgrades mostly…probably the extra sales went to ppl that were on the original and the 3G.
    .
    But with Android, they are gaining new users damn near every day.
    .
    Yea now that the iPhone is on Verizon, lets see if that blue line starts rising….or will it stay flat lined…

  3. LMAO @WP7

    I don’t think that even with the Verizon iPhone that Apple will see any increase on this chart. Last summer when the iPhone 4 was released they only had 130,000 activations per day and that was with all the hype. At the same time Google said they were getting 200,000 per day and now 330,000 per day. Steve doesn’t deny it either but he will put the numbers from the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad and say that Android doesn’t have that much of a difference. On Android they were only counting phones, what will happen when we have a boat load of Honeycomb tablets to choose from. Apple better do something fast.

  4. I want android to go after blackberry….take that low hanging fruit.

  5. of android is going to be #1. its os it not really stuck to the same manufactures. its has tons. android ftw.

  6. Once the Thunderbolt is released I’ll add to that stat lowering Blackberry and bumping up Android!

  7. Rim OS- 1 company
    Apple iOS- 1 company
    Android OS- 30+ companies
    It’s a good START.

  8. WP7 has several OEM’s behind it too

  9. @keller why do you comment, really? can everyone see the puny spike when the iPhone 4 was released? I thought the spike would be huge, eh what do ya know

  10. @jroc

    What you are seeing as steady trend in (Apple, to some extent and RIM [very slow decline]) percentage not the number of users? In other words, you could keep your market share constant (because market share % is dependent on how others do) and still get new customers.

  11. the entire pie is getting bigger so RIM may be getting new customers even as their marketshare drops

  12. It’s not safe to say that Blackberry will continue to decline at the present rate considering they have announced future Blackberry phones will run Android apps. I personally think Blackberry will continue to decline but maybe just not as fast. Unless they are able to offer some serious advantages over just getting an Android phone (unlikely given RIM’s reputation) then they are likely to join apple as niche devices reserved for fanboyz and people that just HAVE to be different. Meanwhile the rest of us will enjoy the benefits of competition coupled with the fast pace innovation of an open OS.

  13. ari-free raises a valid point. well said

  14. if blackberry can run android apps, those apps will not be able to use Blackberry Os’s features but they will use android-specific features. It will be like the OS/2 experience for IBM and RIM will end up using 100% pure android.
    Yup, RIM is the IBM of the smartphones in so many ways.

  15. well IBM is mostly R & D and little consumer and RIM stands for RESEARCH in Motion :)

  16. BOOM! Headshot

  17. Co za asy

  18. With the RIM PlayBook able to run Android apps maybe they’ll just do that Nokia could (possibly even should) have done and start using Android OS on some of their handsets. Divide it up between RIM Business (Blackberry) and RIM Consumer (Android).

  19. I wouldn’t count WP7 out.
    given the fact the chart
    is from Feb 2010-Jan 2011
    and Wp7 only came out mid
    November 2010(it only had a
    month & a half start) the
    majority of the decline is
    from Windows Mobile devices
    not Windows phone 7

  20. It’s Android or nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  21. lol, i hate to beat a dead horse, but…WP7 is still declining and they are releasing new phones.

  22. WP7 is declining and it’s because they did everything to damn slow and didn’t get the phone out on time, horrible advertisement, and updates that keep getting moved from one month to the next.

  23. Apples share is stagnant because the same group of idiots buy all their products. They sign 2 year contracts every year. Dumbasses

  24. MS hasn’t released new phones since WP7 was released. They need to get of their ass and give people more choice. The number of WP7 handsets are very limited right now.

  25. @Phannymay

    Android OS = 1 Company, with multiple OEM support = versatility.

    Manufacturing & Assembly = not done by those companies but outsourced to China. So the point of “1 Company” doesn’t make sense really.

  26. MS declining despite release of WP7 is why MS are now scrapping email addresses of developers on Android Market and spamming them, asking to port their Android Apps to WP7…Never trust a desperate person (or business).

  27. Apple will not see bigger share until they release iPhone on T-Mobile, Sprint and all the regional networks. Because, a lot of people willing to pay for device, but not for the cost of service.

  28. i hate WACKBERRY. You had to install Blackberry enterprise system, just to get your work e-mail. Bad interface. Blackberry users were always talking down to people (like “I got a Blackberry, I am important” – well I have a smarter smartphone now).

  29. Just want to point out the fact that I’m sure 0.8% is well within this poll’s margin of error. That means that, at the time this data was collected, RIM may very well have still been #1.

  30. Well I would think that since we were hearing about the Verizon iPhone in January maybe we would have seen Android slow throughout the month. But so far I think the silence is telling. Verizon won’t say much and Jobs who spent so much time at the iPad 2 release bashing competitors didn’t take a shot at it. So I believe when the next comscore numbers come out we will see the same thing. That will be VERY bad for Apple because it proves that the iPhone is no longer the desire of new smartphone users and Android is more than capable of quenching their thirst. It might also lead Verizon to stick with strong Android marketing as the other carriers will stick with theirs. And don’t let T-Mo and Sprint merge…

  31. Its not Retards in Mass?

  32. …and music players, and eReaders…

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