Washington - Google's Android surged past Apple's iPhone last quarter and is closing in on the Blackberry as the most popular smartphone platform in the United States, market tracking firm comScore said on Monday.
According to comScore, 63.2 million Americans owned smartphones at the end of December, up 60% from a year earlier.
Blackberry maker Research in Motion was the US smartphone leader at the end of the fourth quarter with 31.6% of the market but its share fell from 37.3% the previous quarter, comScore said.
Google's Android mobile operating system was next with a 28.7% of the smartphone market at the end of December, up from 21.4% at the end of September.
Apple was third with 25% of the market, according to comScore.
Microsoft software was running on 8.4%of the smartphones in the United States, down from 9.9% the previous quarter, comScore said, and Palm, which is owned by Hewlett-Packard, saw its market share slip to 3.7% from 4.2% the previous quarter.