Google's
Android smartphone share rose to 34.7 percent in March, up from 33 percent in
February, according to new comScore
mobile subscriber stats released May 6.
Google is
expected to make some significant announcements regarding its Android platform
May 10 at its Google I/O developer show.
Apple's iPhone
share ticked up to 25.5 percent from 25.2 percent over the same period, suggesting
that the Verizon iPhone 4 is continuing to attract some buyers.
ComScore said
Apple's actual hardware market share grew 1.1 percent to 7.9 percent, thanks to
Verizon's iPhone 4 sales. Apple will reportedly not launch an iPhone 5 this
summer, though it is expected to tether its next iPhone more closely with
cloud-computing offerings.
Research in
Motion's Blackberry market share continued its swoon in March, falling to 27
percent, from 28.9 percent through February, according to the researcher.
The declines
aren't new or random; Blackberry share stood at 30.4 percent in January and was
as high as 33.4 percent in November before Google and Apple captured a strong
holiday season, knocking RIM from the top smartphone perch Android now commands.
RIM just
closed its 10th annual Blackberry World developer's conference by giving out
over 6,000 PlayBook tablet computers to the show's attendees.
The company also
announced significant mobile-device management software for enterprises,
including the ability to segment work and play content and manage Apple iOS and
Android handsets and tablets
However, the
company showed off only one major new phone, the Blackberry
Bold 9900.
While this
thin device appeared to be a quality entry with a 3.1-inch touch-screen and a
QWERTY keyboard, RIM irked analysts by failing
to provide satisfactory guidance for smartphones based on the PlayBook's
QNX operating system.
RIM isn't the
only suffering smartphone maker.
Microsoft Windows Phone isn't faring much better, falling to 7.5
percent from 7.7 percent U.S. share. The company continues to struggle with platform updates for its new phones.
The struggles
of RIM and Microsoft, coupled with the long overdue retrenching of Nokia,
reaffirm pundits' predictions that the smartphone market is increasingly
becoming a two-horse race between Google and Apple.
Time will tell if new
bedfellows Nokia and Microsoft can help turn each other's fortunes around,
first overseas, and then in the U.S.
Enterprise Mobility News & Reviews 
