While we don’t always get timely data on mobile adoption rates in Canada, Nielsen’s latest report is something that is of value to even those north of the border. According the the market research firm, almost half (49.7%) of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, as of February 2012. Nielsen did a similar study a year ago and noticed a 38% increase over the same time the year prior and good news for mobile phone manufacturers.
News broke recently that RIM lost spot as the number one smartphone in Canada, and something they hope can be restored as the new Blackberry 10 devices enter the market. In the US, Nielsen has also found that 48 percent of smartphone owners are using an Android-based device, nearly a third (32.1%) of smartphone users have an Apple iPhone, and Blackberry owners represented another 11.6 percent of the smartphone market.
Among recent acquirers who got their smartphone within the last three months, 48 percent of those surveyed in February said they chose an Android and 43 percent bought an iPhone.