Wow! In August we asked the question, Are PA Cell Phone Users Average? Then we presented statistics about cell phone use and what people would be willing to give up instead of cell phones. In that article, we reported that the industry estimates 25% of cell phones in use are smartphones… how quickly things change!
Smartphone Use According to Nielsen
According to the trend-trackers, The Nielsen Company, fully 40% of mobile phones in the United States are Smartphones! We doubt that industry estimates we reported earlier were off by 15%. Rather, the numbers in our August post probably dated back to the beginning of 2011. Nielsen gathered their data in July.
In case you like to keep track, Nielsen also reported on the popularity of different smartphone operating systems. Android leads the pack, driving 40% of smartphones in the United States. Apple iPhone OS runs on 28%, and Blackberry accounts of 19%.
Nielsen’s research suggests that people still switching to smartphones are more likely to want Androids than iPhones while interest in Blackberry and Microsoft operating systems may be declining.