Nielsen just released their survey of mobile consumers in the U.S. For the three month period ending in May, Android gained 2% to a 38% market share while Apple’s iOS gained 1% to a 27% market share. RIM dropped 2% to 21%.
Most interesting is smartphones are now the majority of new purchases. For May, 38% of consumers own a smartphone, but 55% of those that purchased a handset in the 3 month period, purchased a smartphone. This is the first time this has happened and there is no doubt it will stay this way.
Although Android continues to be most popular, Apple has shown the most growth for those that recently purchased a new smartphone. Looking at the prior 3 month period, Android had no gain going from 27% to 27%, but iOS went from 10% to 17%. This, more then likely is a result of the Verizon IPhone. You can see the chart below:
[via nielson]