Earlier this week, market research firm
Canalys reported that Google's Android OS is the top
player in the U.S. smartphone market. Canalys' research indicated
that Android OS commands 34 percent of the market, while RIM and
Apple trail behind at 32 percent and 21.7 percent respectively.
Better known NPD Group released
its own Q2 2010 numbers today and they closely mirror the Canalys
numbers (with the exception of it showing a steeper decline for RIM).
NPD indicates that Android OS, BlackBerry OS, and iOS have market
share numbers of 33 percent, 28 percent, and 22 percent respectively.
Google of course was the big winner,
but the report shows that RIM was the biggest loser -- the company
lost 9 points of market share during the quarter.
"For the second consecutive
quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through
market share gains among U.S. consumers," said Ross Rubin,
executive director of industry analysis at NPD. "While the
Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple's iOS saw a
small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch."
Even though the Motorola
Droid is practically an old man compared to the latest Android
devices that have been released, it was the Android hardware sales
leader for Q2. It was followed by the HTC
Droid Incredible, HTC
EVO 4G, HTC Hero, and HTC Droid Eris.
The onslaught of fresh Android is still
ongoing as the Motorola
Droid X was recently launched and the followup to the original
Motorola Droid, the Droid
2, will launch in the coming weeks. And there's also the rumored
dual-core HTC Glacier that will reportedly be landing
on T-Mobile's wireless network.
In other smartphone news, NPD also
reported that when it comes to units sold, Verizon is still the clear
leader with 33 percent of the market. AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile
trail behind at 25 percent, 12 percent, and 11 percent respectively.