While this has been expected for some time now due to the ever increasing affordability and value of smartphones, numbers released by Nielsen reveal that over half of mobile phone owners in the US now own a smartphone. The figure officially stands at 50.4%, which is up from 47.8% in December 2011 and just 30% at the start of 2011.
Unsurprisingly, Android is the most popular mobile operating system, with just under half of the market. Google's baby has a share of the pie roughly 50% larger than Apple's iOS, which sits at 32%. Looking further down the list RIM Blackberry is continuing to slide, just managing to remain in double digits with 11.6% of the market. Saying this, Blackberry 10 is unlikely to be a massive sucess and this number will continue to drop throughout the year.
Combined, Windows' mobile platforms control a mere 5.8% of the US market. However, not even a third of this is consumed by the heavily advertised Windows Phone 7 platform. It has now been over two years since Windows Phone 7 was made public and it still has not caught up to the now defunct Windows Mobile platform. Worrying numbers for Microsoft indeed.
KitGuru says: It comes as no surprise smartphones are now dominant, what come as a surprise is the obviously poor market penetration encountered by Windows Phone 7.