Apple rules supreme, BlackBerry's fall is Windows Phone's gain, and Facebook is top app

(Logo: comScore Inc.)

A recent study by comScore Inc. revealed Apple's dominance in the mobile computing world. Meanwhile, PCWorld echoes the study result. Microsoft's Windows Phone passed BlackBerry and is now the third largest smartphone operating system within the U.S.

Android still dominates the operating system market at 51.7 percent, with Apple's iOS following with 41.6, which is quite remarkable seeing as it runs on Apple devices only. The 2nd place of iOS hints of Apple's dominance in another department – smartphones.

Apple Campus (1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California). Credit: Wikipedia

Smartphones

Apple tops as a manufacturer in the mobile devices arena with 41.6 percent. It is followed by Samsung at 26.7 percent, then LG at 6.9 percent. Motorola ranks fourth with 6.4, and HTC fifth with a 5.4 percent share. Microsoft has been trying to convince U.S. smartphone users to adopt the Windows Phone OS, enough for it to gain elsewhere in the world as evidence of its success. Nokia, its no. 1 supplier, recently unveiled Nokia X, a less-expensive smartphone that runs Android - but with a Windows Phone-look-alike user interface.

Windows Phone's ascent is, however, not as much a significant sign of support of the platform, as it is proof of BlackBerry's fall. BlackBerry once occupied the top spot in the smartphone arena, and was then overtaken by the iPhone's success and has never recovered. Currently, BlackBerry has 3.1 percent of the U.S. market share for smartphones, a half-point down since October 2013.

Top Apps

The research company comScore also identified the top apps. Facebook is leading, installed on 77 percent of smartphones. Google Play is next with 52.4 percent score; followed by YouTube at 49.7 percent, Google Search at 48, and Pandora, which has a 46.4 percent share.

comScore reports 159.8 million people in the U.S. had smartphones during the three months of its study, which ran from November 2013 and ended in January. It does not measure actual sales. The study combines "census-based" and "panel" methods to arrive at its report.

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