New figures from research firm comScore show Motorola and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion commanding the U.S. device market. According to the firm's January numbers, close to 23 percent of the 234 million Americans over the age of 13 who owned a cell phone carried a Motorola-branded device. As for smartphones, BlackBerry captured 43 percent of the 42.7 million people who owned smart gadgets.
ComScore derives its figures from monthly surveys of consumers, and its findings represent current phone ownership among the U.S. population.
Interestingly, new numbers from research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics paint a slightly different picture. Strategy Analytics showed Samsung as the most prolific cell phone maker in North American in 2009, with 26 percent of the market. LG came in second with 21 percent of the market, while Motorola followed up as No. 3 with 16 percent of the market (RIM was No. 4 with 12 percent of the market). Strategy Analytics' numbers tally shipment numbers rather than ownership numbers, which indicate Samsung could overtake Motorola in comScore's rankings as the Korean firm's devices make their way into consumers' hands.
Nokia, by far the world's largest handset maker, barely made a dent in the North American market; Strategy Analytics showed the firm with a 7 percent share in 2009.
Apart from its manufacturer rankings, comScore also offered January numbers for smartphone operating systems. While BlackBerry controlled close to half the market, Apple scored a solid No. 2 position with 25.1 percent of the U.S. smartphone playground. Microsoft pulled up third with 15.7 percent of the market, though the firm's share declined by 4 points from comScore's October 2009 figures. Google's Android platform enjoyed the most dramatic gains, with an increase from October to January of 4.3 points, to 7.1 percent.
For more:
- see this comScore release
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