comScore is back with its monthly smartphone report, and the results are anything but surprising. Just like we’ve been seeing for the past 18 months, Android is still growing at a rapid pace. A bit more interesting though, is the fact that Apple’s iOS surpassed RIM’s Blackberry during the month of April. This is certainly a milestone for iOS, but it also further proves that the smartphone race might come down to just two platforms: Android and iOS. With that said, let’s take a look at the numbers, shall we?
Android — the biggest and almost only winner of all the platforms — grew a whopping 1.7% during the month of April, taking the popular OS from 34.7% to 36.4% of the market. Now in second place, iOS went from 25.5% at the end of March to 26% in April, growing 0.5%. While not a huge jump, this growth was enough to finally overtake RIM’s Blackberry, which dropped a massive 1.4%, going from 27.1% to 25.7%.
In the single-digit category, Windows Phone/Mobile and WebOS weren’t able to stop the year-long bleeding. Microsoft’s platforms got even closer to death during the month of April by losing 0.8% of the market, dropping from 7.5% to 6.7%. If Microsoft is not able to quickly turn around this sinking ship, we could very well see Windows Phone/Mobile drop below 5% over the coming months.
But you know who’s already below the 5% mark? HP’s WebOS, which is still losing market share despite the fact that there’s almost no more market share to keep losing. The platform shed 0.2% of its market share, going from 2.8% to 2.6%. We would hate to see WebOS die, but it looks like the OS won’t make it past Christmas.
Every time comScore releases a new smartphone report, I come to the same conclusion. Considering the speed at which Blackberry, Windows Phone/Mobile, and WebOS are losing market share, there’s a huge chance that Android and iOS end up owning most of the market. In fact, if Android keeps its current growth trajectory, it could hold 50% of the market right before the end of the year. Add Android’s and iOS’ market share together, and they would have more than 75% of the U.S. smartphone market. In other words, it’s game over for everybody else.
