RIM’s BlackBerry OS has been knocked off the top step in the US smartphone market for the first time since 2007, as rival Android gathers pace in the market.
Research firm NPD Group said Android overtook BlackBerry in the world’s largest smartphone market in 2Q10, ending the quarter with a 33% share compared to RIM’s 28%.
RIM’s share was down nine percentage points during the period, as Google’s OS ate into its market share, the firm noted.
“While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple’s iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch,” executive director of industry analysis Ross Rubin said.
The firm’s figures show Apple ended 2Q with a 22% share of the market, and that Motorola’s Droid was the top-selling Android smartphone in the US during the period.
Rubin was skeptical about whether RIM’s new BlackBerry 6.0 operating system would help it turn the tables on Google and Apple.
Although the platform offers features that have proven popular in Android handsets – including capacitive touchscreen and WebKit browser – Rubin said the first device running the software – the Torch – “lacks the large screen allure that has characterized the best selling Android devices at its price point.”
Rival research firm Canalys also put Google’s Android at the top of US smartphone charts in figures released earlier this week.
The firm said Android took a 34% share of the market in 2Q, compared with RIM’s 32.1% and Apple’s 21.7%