Smartphone: Android gains in US, basic phones extinct
Windows and BlackBerry devices each accounted for 1%, while non-smartphones were just 3%.
WASHINGTON:
The Google Android platform grabbed the majority of mobile phones in the US market in early 2014, as consumers all but abandoned non-smartphone handsets, a survey showed Friday. The poll by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found 53% of new mobile phones activated by US customers were Android devices in the January-March period. Apple’s iOS, the platform used by the iPhone, accounted for 42%, the survey found. Windows and BlackBerry devices each accounted for 1%, while non-smartphones were just 3%, the research firm said. Late last year 20% bought a basic mobile phone. Research firm co-founder Mike Levin said Apple’s iPhone user base grew a little faster than Android, from a smaller base, even though in absolute terms Android – used in Samsung phones – had a larger share. Recent surveys of global phone users show Android phone has a nearly 80% share of smartphone sales.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2014.
The Google Android platform grabbed the majority of mobile phones in the US market in early 2014, as consumers all but abandoned non-smartphone handsets, a survey showed Friday. The poll by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found 53% of new mobile phones activated by US customers were Android devices in the January-March period. Apple’s iOS, the platform used by the iPhone, accounted for 42%, the survey found. Windows and BlackBerry devices each accounted for 1%, while non-smartphones were just 3%, the research firm said. Late last year 20% bought a basic mobile phone. Research firm co-founder Mike Levin said Apple’s iPhone user base grew a little faster than Android, from a smaller base, even though in absolute terms Android – used in Samsung phones – had a larger share. Recent surveys of global phone users show Android phone has a nearly 80% share of smartphone sales.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2014.