Smartphone Penetration Climbs Over 40 Percent during December Holiday Shopping Season
RESTON, VA, February 2, 2012 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the Comscore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending December 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android strengthened its lead in the smartphone market to reach 47.3 percent market share.
OEM Market ShareFor the three-month average period ending in December, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 20 percent share and Motorola with 13.3 percent share. Apple continued to gain ground in the OEM market with 12.4 percent share of total mobile subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.7 percent share.
Top Mobile OEMs3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Sep. 2011Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+Source: Comscore MobiLens
Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
Sep-11
Dec-11
Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers
100.0%
N/A
Samsung
25.3%
0.0
LG
20.6%
20.0%
-0.6
Motorola
13.8%
13.3%
-0.5
Apple
10.2%
12.4%
2.2
RIM
7.1%
6.7%
-0.4
Smartphone Platform Market Share97.9 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in December, representing 40 percent of all mobile subscribers. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 47.3 percent market share, up 2.5 percentage points from September. Apple maintained its #2 position, growing 2.2 percentage points to 29.6 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 16 percent share, followed by Microsoft (4.7 percent) and Symbian (1.4 percent).
Top Smartphone Platforms3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Sep. 2011Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+Source: Comscore MobiLens
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Total Smartphone Subscribers
Google
44.8%
47.3%
2.5
27.4%
29.6%
18.9%
16.0%
-2.9
Microsoft
5.6%
4.7%
-0.9
Symbian
1.8%
1.4%
Mobile Content UsageIn December, 74.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 3.2 percentage points. Downloaded applications were used by 47.6 percent of subscribers (up 5.1 percentage points), while browsers were used by 47.5 percent (up 4.6 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 3.8 percentage points to 35.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 31.4 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.6 percentage points), while 23.8 percent listened to music on their phones (up 2.9 percentage points).
Mobile Content Usage3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Sep. 2011Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+Source: Comscore MobiLens
Sent text message to another phone
71.1%
74.3%
3.2
Used downloaded apps
42.5%
47.6%
5.1
Used browser
42.9%
47.5%
4.6
Accessed social networking site or blog
31.5%
35.3%
3.8
Played Games
28.8%
31.4%
2.6
Listened to music on mobile phone
20.9%
23.8%
2.9
About MobiLensMobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of mobile subscribers age 13 and above. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent’s primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent’s secondary device.
About ComscoreComscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
Contact:Adam LellaComscore, Inc.+1 (312) 775-6474press@comscore.com