Nielsen Wire (http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/?p=25901) says that the competition between smartphone operating systems is a heated one.
When it comes to the installed base — that is, U.S. mobile consumers who already own smartphones — it’s three-way tie between Blackberry RIM, the smartphone pioneer, Apple’s IOS, which revolutionized the smartphone and popularized mobile apps, and Android OS, the operating system created by Google which has been taking the market by storm.
Analyzing the preferences of those who purchased a smartphone in the past six months paints a different picture, however, one in which Android is clearly in the lead with 43% of recent acquirers purchasing an Android device, compared to 26% for Apple iOS and 20% for Blackberry RIM.
Apple’s iOs is the favorite among U.S. smartphone owners who are Asians/Pacific Islanders. Thirty-six percent of Asian/Pacific Islander who own smartphones have iPhones. On the other hand, RIM Blackberry is preferred by 31% of African-American smartphone owners.