Google"s Android mobile operating system continues to be a popular one for both smartphone makers and customers. According to a new report from the NPD Group, the number of Android-based smartphones amounted to 52 percent of all smartphones sold in the US in the second quarter of 2011. Phones based on Apple"s iOS operating system (in other words, the iPhone) came in a 29 percent of all smartphones sold in the US in the same time period.
The other smartphone operating systems didn"t do as well. RIM"s Blackberry OS fell to just 11 percent of all smartphones in the time period. The other smartphone operating systems (Windows Phone 7, webOS, Windows Mobile) each held onto less than five percent of the smartphone market.
Of course since the second quarter ended on July 31, things have changed a bit in the smartphone market with Google announcing it plans to acquire one of the makers of its Android-based smartphones, Motorola Mobility, for $12.5 billion. According to NPD"s Ross Rubin, "Android"s momentum has made for a large pie that is attractive to Motorola"s Android rivals, even if they must compete with their operating system developer." Motorola"s share of the smartphone market in terms of hardware actually went down in the second quarter of 2011, from 15 percent a year ago to 12 percent this year. Other smartphone makers such as Samsung and LG experienced market gains during that same time period. The press release doesn"t comment on the decision by HP last week to no longer sell new webOS based smartphones.