• by Aaron Baar , August 6, 2010

Smartphones using Google's Android operating system are continuing to gain traction among consumers, thanks to greater product offering and wireless carrier promotions.

According to The NPD Group, Android phones took the lead among operating systems in handsets sold to U.S. consumers, accounting for a third (33%) of all smartphones purchased in the second quarter. Android phones outsold those from RIM (28%) and Apple (22%).

"More of the handsets sold at retail had Android [operating systems] than any other operating system," Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis, tells Marketing Daily. "For part of the quarter, Verizon Wireless had a 'buy one, get one' promotion for Android handsets that had high consumer appeal."

Although the Android gains are significant, it's worth noting that Apple's iPhone 4 wasn't available to consumers until the very end of the quarter, and RIM recently announced its BlackBerry Torch smartphone (coming Aug. 12) will have features that have been popular in recently launched Android handsets.

"Apple's share was actually up nominally," Rubin says. "Most of Android's gains were at the expense of RIM."

Although there was a decline in the number of mobile phones purchased year-over-year, smartphones continued to gain ground, accounting for 42% of the phones sold during the quarter, Rubin says. Accordingly, the average selling price for all mobile phones reached $90, up 3% over the previous year. (Overall, however, smartphone prices are dropping. The average unit price for the devices was $143 in the second quarter of 2010, down 9% from the previous year.)

Among carriers, Verizon maintained its lead, accounting for a third (33%) of all mobile units sold in the U.S. during the second quarter, boosted heavily by the buy-one-get-one promotions, Rubin says. AT&T accounted for a quarter (25%), while Sprint and T-mobile accounted for 12% and 11%, respectively.