Analysts: Android surges across U.S. smartphone market in Q3

Google's Android platform continues to surge in popularity, according to new reports from analyst firms. The platform managed to capture the leading position in the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter.

Click here for Canalys’ smartphone market share breakout for the United States.According to new, separate reports from research firms Canalys and the NPD Group, Android captured around 44 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter--besting both iPhone maker Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM). 

Android, which is heavily backed by Motorola (NYSE:MOT), HTC, Samsung and others, achieved phenomenal year-over-year growth, according to Canalys. Indeed, the research firm noted that Android's share of the U.S. market jumped fully 10 percent in three months, from 34 percent in the second quarter of 2010--a testament to its growing momentum.

Canalys said that Apple captured 26.2 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter and RIM grabbed 24.2 percent. Those findings were largely echoed in a similar report released by NPD.

NPD found that Android captured 44 percent of the U.S. smartphones sold in the third quarter. Apple's iOS held steady and accounted for 23 percent of sales, while BlackBerry fell from 28 percent in the second quarter to 23 percent in the third quarter, NPD found. 

"The HTC Evo 4G, Motorola Droid X and other new, high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide," NPD analyst Ross Rubin said in a statement.

For more:
- see this FierceMobileContent article
- see this Canalys release
- see this BusinessInsider article
- see this Reuters article

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