Apple Posts October Gains on Samsung Market Share

According to October data published today by comScore Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), the mobile handset market share leader continues to be Samsung Electronics, followed by LG Electronics, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Motorola, now part of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and HTC Corp.

On a three-month average basis, Samsung grabs 26.3% of the handset market, up 0.7% from July, while LG gets 17.6% (down 0.8%), and Apple gets 17.8% (up 1.5%). HTC lost 0.4% and Motorola lost 0.2%. In July, Apple trailed Samsung by 9.3 points but has closed the gap to 8.5 points in October.

In the software operating system (platform) market, Google’s Android gets 53.6% share, followed by Apple with 34.3%, Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) with 7.8%, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) with 3.2%, and Symbian (formerly owned by Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) with 0.6%. Only Google and Apple added share in the three-month period. RIM was the big loser, down 1.7%. In July Apple trailed Google by 18.8 points, and Google widened the gap to 19.3 points in October.

In October, the most used application on mobile devices is text messaging, which nearly 76% of mobile device owners say they use. Downloaded apps are used by 54.5% of subscribers and 52.7% use a web browser. Social networking or blog access attracts 39.4% of users and 34.1% played games on their mobile devices. Finally, 28.7% of mobile subscribers listen to music on their mobile devices. All these numbers are higher than in the July 2012 survey.

Paul Ausick