Apple Inc. (AAPL) Owns Half of U.S. Smartphone Market

As Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) releases its quarterly earnings report, there is a new survey of smartphone market share that likely will add to any positive sentiment from the earnings report, as Kantar’s WorldPanel ComTech released its latest numbers about the U.S. smartphone market.

According to the survey, Apple Inc. has secured a majority share of the smartphone market in the U.S., based on information gathered over a 12-week period that ended just before Christmas. Apple’s iOS smartphones now own 51.2 percent of the domestic market, while Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android phones have 44.2 percent, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows phones occupy 3.6 percent of the market.

While the overall market-share number might be impressive in and of itself, Kantar analyst Mary-Ann Parlato said that more than one-third of iOS sales had come from users of other smartphones – and specifically, 19 percent of iOS sales came from former Android users, which was twice the conversion rate of a year ago (9 percent). And what was equally noteworthy is that Apple Inc. owns a 75-percent market share on the AT&T Inc. network, and that 49 percent of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) customers who used other smartphones converted to iOS devices, with nearly three-fifths of those (30 percent) converting from Android.

In short, it seems that Apple Inc. is thriving in the smartphone market, and seems to be taking market straight from Google Inc. and its Android OS.

What do you think – is this something legitimate, or just a short-term snapshot that isn’t necessarily a trend? Does Apple Inc. have an opening here, or do you think Google Inc. can rebound? Give us your thoughts, or comment on your experiences with smartphones and give us your take on the superior OS and why.

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