Android is the most popular mobile operating system among consumers who bought a smartphone in the past six months, according to new research from Nielsen.
Research In Motion's BlackBerry and Apple's iOS "are in a statistical dead heat for second place among recent acquirers," the Nielsen Co. said.
Android 2.2 on Motorola Droid: First impressions of Froyo
"Among all smartphone owners, Blackberry still holds the dominant share with 31% of the market, though its lead over Apple is declining," Nielsen continued in a report issued Tuesday. "Twenty-eight percent of smartphone owners have Apple iPhones, compared to 19% who have Android devices."
Android's surge in 2010 has been impressive. In January, only 14% of recent acquirers were choosing Android. Now that number is 32%.
Meanwhile, the share of recent acquirers who chose BlackBerry has dropped from 34% to 25%, and the share of recent acquirers who chose the iPhone dropped from 32% to 26%.
In terms of overall market share, BlackBerry has dropped from 36% to 31% since January, and the iPhone has dropped only slightly from 29% to 28%.
Android's surge is therefore taking a bigger chunk of market share away from BlackBerry than it is from Apple. Android's total market share has more than doubled since January, moving from 8% to 19%.
Nielsen's report is just the latest in a string that shows Android is on pace to become the industry's most popular smartphone platform.
Android has matched the iPhone in overall consumer interest, according to ChangeWave. ChangeWave also surveyed corporate IT buyers, and found that while BlackBerry still dominates in the business world, the proportion of IT departments providing Android has jumped from 3% to 16% since November.
Gartner has reported that Android will surpass BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone in all of 2010, potentially making it the best-selling platform worldwide behind Nokia's Symbian, which is widely used overseas.
Follow Jon Brodkin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jbrodkin
Read more about anti-malware in Network World's Anti-malware section.
This story, "Android most popular in recent sales, but third in overall share" was originally published by Network World.