• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 6, 2011

Google's Android mobile operating system blew past Apple's iOS to become the second-ranked smartphone platform in the U.S. with a 26% share of the market for the three months ending in November. BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion is still No. 1 with a 33.5% share, but that's down from 37.6% in the prior three months. Apple's share increased only slightly to 25%, while Android picked up more than six percentage points since the end of August.

Samsung remained the top phone manufacturer, with a 24.5% market share, followed by LG (20.9%), Motorola (17%), RIM (8.8%) and Nokia (7.2%). The number of people in the U.S. with smartphones reached 61.5 million in November, up 10% from August. Overall, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older use mobile devices. Read more here.