Android Share Hits 40%

June data from Comscore reveals that   78.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the second quarter of 2011, and 40.1% were Android.

Apple strengthened its #2 position with 26.6 percent of the smartphone market, up 1.1 percentage points from the prior reporting period. RIM ranked third with 23.4 percent share, followed by Microsoft (5.8 percent) and Symbian (2.0 percent).  The 78.5 million smartphones is an 8% increase over the first quarter of the year, and 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices.

Among device manufacturers, Samsung is the top OEM with 25.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points), followed by LG with 21.3 percent share (up 0.4 percentage points) and Motorola with 14.5 percent share. Apple strengthened its position at #4 with 8.9 percent share of mobile subscribers (up 1.0 percentage points), while RIM - which invented the category with the Blackberry - now commands just 7.9 percent share.