The NPD Group published findings today in relation to smartphone market share in the U.S. during Q1, indicating Android has overtaken iPhone as the second most popular OS behind RIM.
NPD’s wireless market research report reveals that based on unit sales to consumers last quarter, the Android OS moved into second position at 28 percent, behind RIM’s OS (36 percent) and ahead of Apple’s OS (21 percent).
Interestingly, smartphone sales at AT&T comprised nearly a third of the entire smartphone market (32 percent), followed by Verizon Wireless (30 percent), T-Mobile (17 percent) and Sprint (15 percent). Verizon is promoting strong incentives for subscribers to pick up smartphones, and it seems to be working.
“As in the past, carrier distribution and promotion have played a crucial role in determining smartphone market share,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD. “In order to compete with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has expanded its buy-one-get-one offer beyond RIM devices to now include all of their smartphones.”
Other interesting tidbits from the report include mobile phone pricing stats, indicating that the continued popularity of messaging and smartphones resulted in slightly higher prices for all mobile phones, despite an overall drop in the number of mobile phones purchased in the first quarter.
The average selling price for all mobile phones in Q1 reached $88, which is a 5 percent increase from Q1 2009. Smartphone unit prices, by comparison, averaged $151 in Q1 2010, which is a 3 percent decrease over the previous year.
