Smartphones now make up 40 percent of the U.S. cell-phone market. Forty percent is also the magic number for the Android operating system, which runs on two of every five smartphones in America. Those are the findings from Nielsen’s July research, just released today.
Apple’s iOS, which runs the company’s iconic iPhone, is in second place with 28 percent market share. RIM’s BlackBerry follows with 19 percent and Microsoft’s old Windows Mobile platform comes in fourth, at 7 percent. The nascent Windows Phone 7 has just 1 percent of the U.S. market so far.
Nielsen also wanted to know which smartphones people are planning to buy in the next year. One-third of potential buyers said an iPhone, while another third picked an Android device. The firm also broke down its report into five buyer segments, from “innovators" (the earliest of technology adopters) to “late adopters." Of the innovators, 40 percent said Android is their next desired operating system, compared to 32 percent for iOS. Thirty percent of late adopters weren’t sure what they will buy – a segment carriers, manufacturers and developers will want to win over.
