comScore: Android Market Share Continues To Gain On The iPhone
comScore has just released its latest report on smartphone marketshare, and the trend we saw last month has continued: Google's Android is gaining quickly on the iPhone, as Palm and Microsoft's shares continue to dip.
Context & Ripple Effects
comScore's monthly smartphone readout confirms a pattern its previous report already showed: Android is climbing fastest among US mobile subscribers, while Palm and Microsoft keep ceding ground. That makes this the second consecutive month of the same direction of travel, not a one-off blip.
The timing matters for the laggards. Days earlier, Google announced it was optimizing its services for tablets, extending the platform Android share growth feeds into, and a rumored — unconfirmed — Microsoft event is said to preview its long-awaited always-connected phones, which would be Redmond's answer if the dip continues.
First-order effects
- Palm and Microsoft exit another quarter of measured share loss, tightening pressure on both to show handset partners and carriers a credible response rather than another declining print.
- Android's gains give carriers and hardware makers a proven non-iPhone alternative, strengthening their hand in lineup and exclusivity negotiations with Apple.
Second-order effects
- As Android's installed base widens, app developers face growing pressure to treat it as a first-day launch target alongside iOS rather than a port-down platform.
- A sustained dip forces Microsoft and Palm into defensive repositioning — the reported Microsoft event on always-connected phones fits exactly that pattern, though the claim remains unconfirmed.
Third-order effects
- If the trajectory holds, the US smartphone market structurally consolidates into a two-camp contest — a multi-vendor Android coalition versus Apple's single-vendor iPhone — with legacy OS holders squeezed out of relevance.
- Monthly third-party measurement like comScore's becomes the de facto scoreboard that drives developer, carrier, and investor behavior, amplifying momentum swings for whichever platform leads.
The trend: Smartphone operating systems are consolidating around Android's open, multi-carrier model against Apple's closed single-device approach, with each monthly measurement accelerating the shift.