comScore: Google #1, Apple #3 in U.S. Smartphones

Google’s Android operating system was the number one platform in the U.S. smartphone market, according to market research firm comScore. The company released a report Monday that showed that Android had grown 7% in the three months ending in October to the three months ending in January with 31.2% of the market, while Apple’s iPhone platform had grown 0.1% to 24.7%. Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platform plunged 5.4% to fall to #2, with 30.4%.

These number differ slightly with data from Nielsen released last week. Nielsen also found that Android was the top OS in the U.S., but with 29% market share, while RIM and Apple were tied for second at 29% each.

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Both companies’ data was compiled for November, December, and January, before Apple and Verizon began selling the iPhone 4 on Big Red’s network, but both reports also clearly demonstrate the massive momentum enjoyed by Android throughout 2010.

Looking at comScore’s data, Android’s growth of 7% alone was almost as much as 4th place Microsoft’s entire market share of 8% (down 1.7% from the three months ending in October). That is a remarkable growth rate that took a bite out of every other player in the U.S. market except Apple (Nokia is still the largest smartphone market on the planet, but the company has almost no presence in the U.S. and didn’t rank in comScore’s top five).

ComScore also released data for handset manufacturers as a whole — data that includes all mobile phones without breaking out smartphones. That data showed that RIM was the #4 handset maker in the U.S. with 8.6% of the total mobile phone market. Apple was #5, with 7% of the mobile phone market, which is not bad for having one phone in two models. Samsung, LG, and Motorola were first, second, and third.

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