ComScore (http://www.comscore.com), which measures the digital world, has reported key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three-month average period ending November 2010. The iPhone gained a little ground in the smartphone market.

Approximately 61.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in November, up 10% from the preceding three-month period, as RIM led with 33.5% market share of smartphones. After several months of strong growth, Google Android captured the #2 ranking among smartphone platforms in November with 26% of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Apple accounted for 25% of smartphone subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points), followed by Microsoft with 9% and Palm with 3.9%.

The ComScore 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 ages 13 and older, and reviewed the most popular activities and content accessed via the subscriber’s primary mobile phone. The November report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.5% market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 33.5% market share.