comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry over the three month period between September and December 2009. The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in the U.S. according to their share of current mobile subscribers age 13 and older, as well as the most popular forms of content and activity accessed via mobile device. The report found Motorola to be the top handset manufacturer with 23.5 percent market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 41.6 percent market share.

OEM Market Share

A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009. Device manufacturer Motorola was the top ranked OEM with 23.5 percent of U.S. mobile devices. LG ranked second with 21.9 percent share, followed by Samsung (21.2 percent share), Nokia (9.2 percent share) and RIM (7.0 percent share).

Smartphone Platform Market Share

RIM was the leading mobile smartphone operating system in the U.S. in December 2009 with 41.6 percent share of U.S. smartphone devices. Apple ranked second with 25.3 percent share (up 1.2 percentage points), followed by Microsoft with 18.0 percent share, Palm with 6.1 percent share, and Google with 5.2 percent share (up 2.7 percentage points).

Mobile Content Usage

In December 2009, 63.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 2.1 percentage points from three months prior. Browsers were used by 27.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 1.5 percentage points), while subscribers who played games made up 21.6 percent (up 0.2 percentage points).