if you decided to make your next wireless phone one of the smartphone variety you are most definitely not alone. According to a new survey revealed today by Nielsen, 55 percent of people in the US who bought a new mobile phone in the last three months bought a smartphone. That"s up from just 34 percent of buyers just a year ago. Overall, 38 percent of mobile phone owners in the US own a smartphone device.
As far as which smartphones are being bought, it"s not a shock to learn that Android-based devices currently lead the pack with 38 percent followed Apple"s iPhone with 27 percent, RIM"s Blackberry with 21 percent, and Windows Mobile with 9 percent. However, Nielsen does note that while Android may be the leader in smartphone purchases, there has been a surge of people who have bought an iPhone in the last three months. While Android sales growth has flattened at 27 percent, the iPhone-iOS sales have jumped from 10 to 17 percent in the last three months.
While its clear that people are preferring to get some kind of smartphone as their next mobile phone purchase, it"s going to be interesting to see which smartphones will sell well in the next 12 months. Apple"s next generation iPhone is due out in September but there are also a flood of Android-based devices due for release as well. And of course we are waiting to see if Nokia"s move to Windows Mobile 7 will work as advertised.