Smartphones Gaining Share in US Market (AAPL, GOOG)

In 2009, just 18% of all mobile phone users owned a smartphone. By October of this year, that total had reached 44%, with the iPhone 4 from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) as the most popular device and the Android operating system from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) as the most popular software platform. Apple’s share of the smartphone market is nearly 29%, and Android’s share of the OS market is nearly 45%.

These and other data come from the most recent mobile media report from The Nielson Co. Here are a few other highlights from the survey:

• The majority of 25-34 and 18-24 year olds now own smartphones (64% and 53% respectively)
• The majority of smartphone owners (62%) have downloaded apps on their devices and games are the top application category used in the past 30 days
• The number of smartphone subscribers using the mobile Internet has grown 45 percent since 2010
• 87 percent of app downloaders (those who have downloaded an app in the past 30 days) have used deal-of-the-day websites like Groupon or Living Social
• Younger groups text the most. In Q3, teens 13-17 sent and received the most text messages (an average of 3,417 each month)

One other interesting tidbit from the survey: 49% of shoppers now use their smartphones while they are trolling the aisles in their favorite brick-and-mortar stores. Retailers really need to figure out a way to turn that to their advantage before shoppers stop making those trips to the store.