40% of Mobile Subscribers use a Smartphone

97.9 million people in the U.S. owned a smartphone in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the latest numbers from comScore’s MobiLens service. The number represents 40% of all mobile subscribers. Google’s Android ranked as the top smartphone operating system with a 47.3% market share, up 2.5% from the market share it held in the previous quarter. Apple’s iOS remained at number two in the 4Q of 2011 with a 29.6% share, up from 27.4% in the 3Q. RIM, which came in third, experienced a drop in market share, from 18.9% in the 3Q of 2011 to 16.0% in the 4Q. Rounding out the top five, Microsoft and Symbian also saw their market shares drop 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively. The MobiLens service also measured mobile content usage in the 4Q of 2011, it found:
47.6% (+5.1% from 3Q) of mobile subscribers used downloaded apps.
47.5% (+4.6%) used a browser on their mobile phones.
35.3% (+3.8%) accessed a social networking site or blog.