One-Third of U.S. Mobile Subscribers Access Social Networking Sites on Mobile Devices

According to the latest figures from comScore, an average of one out of three mobile subscribers in the U.S. accessed social networking sites on their mobile devices during the three months ending in November. Google’s Android was the fastest growing mobile OS during that time period, followed by Apple’s iOS.

For the three-month average period ending in November, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices, according to comScore. The top original equipment manufacturer (OEM) was Samsung with 25.6 percent of the market, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the three-month average period ending in August.

LG followed with 20.5 percent, while Motorola was third with 13.7 percent. Apple was fourth with 11.2 percent, up 1.4 percentage points. RIM rounded out the top five OEMs with 6.5 percent of the market.

comScore also noted that 91.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the most recent three-month period, up 8 percent from the previous three-month period. Google led the way with 46.9 percent of the market, up 3.1 points. Apple followed with 28.7 percent of the market, up 1.4 points.

RIM was third with 16.6 percent of the market, down 3.1 points. Microsoft claimed 5.2 percent of the market, while Symbian held onto 1.5 percent.

For the three-month average period ending in November, 72.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers sent text messages to another phone, while 44.9 percent used downloaded apps and 44.4 percent used a mobile browser.

Thirty-three percent accessed a social networking site or blog, 29.7 percent played games and 21.7 percent listened to music on their mobile phone.

Separate numbers from NetMarketShare revealed that iOS finished December with 52.1 percent of the mobile/tablet OS market, up from its 46.6 percent share in February. JAVA ME was second with 21.3 percent, down from 26.8 percent in February.

Android finished the year with 16.3 percent of the market, up from 13.4 percent in February. Symbian followed with 5.76 percent of the market, down from 8.9 percent.

BlackBerry had 3.5 percent of the market in December, up from 3.2 percent in February. Other mobile operating systems finished 2011 with 1.1 percent of the market, virtually unchanged from its share in February.

Sources:

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/12/comScore_Reports_November_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=9&qpcustomb=1