• January 3, 2011

Stateside, which smartphone operating system has the greatest market share? According to new analysis from Nielsen, the race "might still be too close to call." Technically, Apple has a majority share with 28.6% of the market, followed by RIM with a 26.1% share and Android, which despite its recent surges, still trails in third place with a 25.8% share. Yet, as ReadWriteWeb notes, the margin of error on Nielsen's report places RIM BlackBerry in a statistical tie for both Apple's top spot and Android's third spot. That said, "The stats are remarkably different when looked at in terms of recent acquirers," according to ReadWriteWeb. As defined by Nielsen, 'recent' means within the past 6 months. Indeed, from June to November 2010, more new smartphone users chose Android (40.8%), instead of BlackBerry (19.2%) or Apple (26.9%). ReadWriteWeb, for its part, suggests that the lower price points for Android devices "seal the deal" for many consumers. Overall, smartphone adoption is increasing in the U.S. In November 2010, 45% of recent acquirers chose a smartphone, according to Nielsen - compared with 34% back in June. --Gavin O'Malley