comScore this morning released some interesting data from its MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three-month average period ending April 2011.
According to the measurement specialist, 74.6 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during that period, up 13 percent from the three-month period ending in January 2011. Roughly 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices.
Google’s Android ranked as the top mobile platform, with 36.4 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers, up 5.2 percentage points. Apple also gained share, assuming the #2 position with 26 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with a 25.7 percent share, followed by Microsoft (6.7 percent) and Palm (2.6 percent).
The comScore study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.5 percent market share, followed by LG with 20.9 percent share and Motorola with 15.6 percent share.
On that front, comScore says Apple jumped to the #4 position with 8.3 percent share of mobile subscribers, while RIM rounded out the top five with a 8.2 percent share.
ComScore further reports that 68.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device in April 2011. Browsers were reportedly used by 39.1 percent of subscribers (up 2.1 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 37.8 percent (up 2.4 percentage points).
Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.7 percentage points, representing 28 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games comprised 26.2 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.5 percentage points), while listening to music represented 18 percent.