Year: 2010

Approximately 60.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in October, up 14% from the preceding three-month period, representing one out of mobile subscribers, accodring to a new report by the comScore research group (http://www.comscore.com).

RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 35.8% hare of U.S. smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 24.6% share (up 0.8 percentage points). Google Android saw another month of strong growth, rising 6.5 percentage points to capture 23.5% of smartphone subscribers.

The iPad will cause nearly 50% of all growth for Apple in fiscal year 2011, according to Caris & Company analyst Robert Cihra. In a note to clients — as reported by “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com) — he calls Apple’s growth “stunning.”

In the December quarter, Cihra expects Apple to sell 6.7 million iPads. He has also projected the sale of 32 million iPads in fiscal year 2011, accounting for more growth in Apple’s bottom line than the iPhone.

There are now 42 patents involves in the ongoing legal brouhaha between Apple and Motorola.

Apple now alleges that Motorola infringes 24 of its patents (21 of them with Android-based phones, the remaining 3 with set-top boxes and DVRs), while Motorola previously asserted 18 patents against a variety of Apple products (mostly but not exclusively iPhone, iPad and iPod), reports “Foss Patents” (http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2010/12/apple-vs-motorola-now-42-patents-in.html).