Google leads mobile platforms

Apple fans are a loyal group, but it’s Google that continues to top the market for the smartphone platforms used by consumers during a three month period ending Aug. 30.

E-commerce data provider, comScore Inc., recently released a study that surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers age 13 and over. Samsung was top headset manufacturer with an overall 25.7% market share. Google Android led among smartphone platforms, accounting for 52.6% of smartphone subscribers, while Apple accounted for 34.3%

Some 234 million Americans used mobile devices in the three-month period. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.7% of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with an 18.2 % share. Apple continued to inch closer to the No.2  ranking with 17.1%  of mobile subscribers, followed by Motorola with 11.2 %  and HTC with 6.3 %

There were 116.5 million people in the U.S. who owned smartphones during the three months ending in August, up 6% versus the May survey.

Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 52.6% market share (up 1.7 percentage points), while Apple’s share increased 2.4 percentage points to 34.3% . RIM Blackberry ranked third with 8.3% share, followed by Microsoft 3.6% and Symbian had a fractional 0.7%,

In August, 75.6% of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Downloaded applications were used by 53.4% of subscribers, while browsers were used by 52%.  All of these functions grew slightly in popularity among users in the period.

Nearly 40% of smartphone users accessed social networking sites or blogs in the survey period, while 34% of the mobile audience used game-playing, basically level with the June survey. Roughly 28% listened to music on their phones, up slightly from the June report.