ComScore report finds 42 percent of US mobile users have smartphones, Android at nearly 50 percent

ComScore released its annual Digital Future in Focus report earlier this month, offering new findings on things like email and web use, and it's now out with its latest Mobile Future in Focus report, which provides a year-end wrap of mobile device use both in the US and around the world. Not surprisingly, that year was marked by the continued growth of the smartphone, with the adoption rate among US mobile users jumping from 27 percent in 2010 to just under 42 percent in 2011 (similar growth was found elsewhere, with it cracking the 50 percent mark in a few countries). Among those, Android proved to be the most popular platform with a 47.3 percent market share, followed by iOS at 30 percent and RIM at 16 percent (exactly half of what it was in 2010, with the majority of that lost share moving to Android). Incidentally, Canada was the sole country where RIM retained a lead, but just barely; it accounts for 32.6 percent of the smartphone market in the country, followed closely by iOS at 31.2 percent and Android at 27.8 percent.

Breaking things down further, while Android had the largest market share among smartphones, Apple had the three biggest selling phones in the US for the year with the iPhone 4, 3GS and 4S; the BlackBerry Curve 8530 snagged the fourth spot and the HTC EVO 4G took fifth. Of course, ComScore also took a look at tablets, and found that close to 15 percent of all US mobile users owned a tablet in addition to a phone, with the iPad of course accounting for an overwhelming majority of those. Notably, it also estimates that iPads account for over half of all iOS traffic, which helped boost iOS' overall share of mobile device traffic to a whopping 90.4 percent, although it notes it expect that to decline somewhat in 2012 as devices like the Kindle Fire peck away at the iPad's dominant market share. The full report can be found at the source link below.

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comScore Releases the "2012 Mobile Future in Focus" Report
Report Offers Insights on the Mobile and Connected Device Landscape in 2011 and What They Mean for 2012

RESTON, VA, February 23, 2012 - comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the 2012 Mobile Future in Focus report. This annual report examines the mobile and connected device landscape, covering several mobile markets measured by comScore, through an exploration of key trends driving smartphone adoption growth, mobile media usage in categories such as social networking and retail, mobile ecosystem dynamics, and shifts in multi-device digital media consumption in 2011. The report highlights insights primarily from mobile markets in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada.

"2011 proved to be a groundbreaking year for the mobile industry, with smartphones hitting the mainstream, tablets emerging as a formidable fourth screen, and consumers increasingly integrating mobile behaviors into their lifestyles. As the industry continues to innovate and more consumers look to multiple devices and platforms to consume digital media, we expect the mobile and connected device landscape to be shaken up even further in 2012," said Mark Donovan, comScore Senior Vice President of Mobile. "As mobile channels present a more personal, social, and ubiquitous experience to consumers, advertisers and publishers have an opportunity to better engage target audiences, given an understanding of how to connect and leverage the unique characteristics of these emerging platforms."

To download a complimentary copy of 2012 Mobile Future in Focus report, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/2012MobileFutureinFocus

Key findings highlighted in 2012 Mobile Future in Focus include:

Smartphones Gain Adoption Among 'Early Majority', Driving Mobile Media Consumption
Nearly 42 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers now use smartphones, along with 44.0 percent of mobile users across the EU5 (comprised of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK). Mobile media use – defined as browsing the mobile web, accessing applications, or downloading content – saw increased growth as a result, surpassing the 50-percent threshold in many markets, supported by the proliferation of high-speed networks and increased public WiFi availability.

Smartphone Platform Wars Intensify As Android and Apple Take the Lead in Most Markets
The Google Android and Apple iOS smartphone platforms emerged as the leaders of the U.S. smartphone market in 2011, with Android just a few points shy of capturing half of the smartphone market and iOS accounting for nearly 30 percent of the market. In the EU5, Android saw similarly significant gains, unseating market leader Symbian in 3 out of the 5 European markets measured.

Surge in Mobile App Usage Shapes a Dual Mobile Browsing Experience, Fueling Category Growth
In 2011, both the U.S. and EU5 saw the growth in mobile app use exceed the growth in mobile browser use, leading to both markets seeing the same percentage of their mobile audience use both apps and browsers to access mobile media. Health ranked as the fastest-growing mobile media category in the U.S. in 2011, followed by Retail and other commerce-related categories such as Electronic Payments and Auction Sites.

Mobile Retail Information Leads to Emergence of Smartphone Shopping Behaviors
More than half of the U.S. smartphone population used their phone to perform retail research while inside a store in 2011, illustrating the emergence of savvy smartphone shoppers who bring online shopping behaviors in-store – a trend seen in other markets as well. At the end of 2011, nearly 1 in 5 smartphone users scanned product barcodes and nearly 1 in 8 compared prices on their phone while in a store.

Mobile Devices Fuel Social Networking On-The-Go, Driving Real-Time Online Interaction
64.2 million U.S. smartphone users and 48.4 million EU5 smartphone users accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile devices at least once in December 2011, with more than half of these mobile social networking users accessing social media almost every day. While mobile social networking users showed the highest propensity to read posts from people they knew personally, more than half of those in the U.S. and nearly half in the EU5 also reported reading posts from brands, organizations, and events.

Mobile Connectivity and Connected Devices Encourage Cross-Platform Digital Media Consumption among 'Digital Omnivores'
Tablets quickly rose in popularity in 2011, taking less than two years to account for nearly 40 million tablets in use among U.S. mobile users and outpacing smartphones which took 7 years to reach the same. By the end of 2011, nearly 15 percent of U.S. mobile users also had tablets – a trend seen across other markets as well.

About comScore
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