Android nears 50% market share as U.S. tops 100M smartphone users

The latest comScore MobiLens report out and, for the first time, the number of U.S. smartphone subscribers has eclipsed the 100-million mark. Growing 13 percent from October, the finding tells us that there are 101.3 million American users running around with smartphones. As to exactly what brand and platforms you're bound to run into seems to differ from quarter to quarter however chances are good you'll encounter plenty of Samsung handsets running Android along the way.

The survey for the three-month average period ending in January finds that Samsung is the top manufacturer with 25.4 percent market share. LG comes in second at 19.7 percent, followed by Motorola at 13.2 percent. Apple comes in fourth (12.8 percent) this time around, however they are the only one in the top five to grow since last report.

In terms of platform popularity, Android reigns supreme with 48.6 percent market share, up 2.3 percentage points from the last survey. Apple comes in second at 29.5 percent, also up (1.4 percent) since the last time we checked in. Rounding out the top five are RIM (15.2 percent), Microsoft (4.4 percent), and Symbian (1.5 percent).

So what are people doing with these smartphones? Not all that much different from those who use feature phones. Nearly 3 in 4 users reported that they use their phones for sending text messages whereas less than half of them download apps or use the browser.

1. Sent text message to another phone - 74.6%
2. Used downloaded apps - 48.6%
3. Used browser - 48.5%
4. Accessed social networking site or blog - 35.7%
5. Played Games - 31.8%
6. Listened to music on mobile phone - 24.5%

Source: Press Release Via: AndroidGuys