Nielsen

Nielsen: iPhone & Android own 71% of U.S. smartphone market

83% of the apps downloaded in the past month were for a Google or Apple phone

The U.S. smartphone market is starting to look like a two-horse race, judging from data scheduled to be released Wednesday by a Nielsen general manager at AppNation III in San Francisco. Among the new findings:

44% of all U.S. mobile subscribers now own a smartphone
56% of the mobile phones purchased in the past three months were MORE

Nielsen: 44% of U.S. kids 6-12 want an iPad for Christmas

The iPod touch (30%) and iPhone (27%) came in second and third in the 2011 wish list

Apple's (AAPL) iPad topped a new Nielsen survey of the most desired electronics products among young Americans this holiday season.

Among kids 6-12, Apple scored a hat trick, with the iPad (44%) first, the iPod touch (30%) second and the iPhone (27%) third.

In a similar survey last year, the iPad came in first at 31% and MORE

Nielsen: Android's U.S. share steady at 43%, iPhone at 28%

But adoption varies greatly by age. Most Americans under 44 already carry a smartphone

In the rapidly growing U.S. smartphone market, Google's (GOOG) Android and Apple's (AAPL) iPhone seem to have reached a steady state.

According to the third quarter Nielsen survey of the market, issued Thursday, 43% of Americans now own smartphones, up 5 percentage points in the past six months. Within that 43%, according to Nielsen, Android has 43% of the MORE

Nielsen: Android share of U.S. smartphone market hits 43%

Of those purchased in last 3 months, 56% were Androids. iPhone holds steady at 28%. 

The results of a Nielsen survey conducted in August and released Monday reinforced several ongoing trends:

The smartphone pie is getting bigger. While 43% of all mobile subscribers in the U.S. had a smartphone as of August, according to Nielsen, 58% of those who bought a new mobile phone in the last 3 months chose a smartphone over a feature MORE

Apple overtakes Nokia to become the world's No. 1 smartphone maker

The next contender: Samsung, whose Android phones are gaining fast

The companies that track mobile phone sales are just now catching up to the news that came out of Apple's (AAPL) last week. According to the company's Q3 earnings report, Apple sold nearly 20.24 million iPhones last quarter, up 142% from the same quarter last year.

On Thursday, IDC reported that that makes Apple the world's No. 4 manufacturer of all mobile MORE

Nielsen: Android's growth curve flattened in 2011 while the iPhone's got a boost

The effect of the long-awaited launch of an iPhone for Verizon, or a bump from the iPad 2?

During the rapid ascent of Google (GOOG) Android phones in 2010 it was never clear how much their popularity was due to the fact that Apple's (AAPL) iPhone was available in the U.S. on only one carrier -- AT&T (T) -- with somewhat spotty coverage.

The test was supposed to come in February, when MORE

Nielsen: 51% of iPad use is in bed or in front of the TV

Also with friends (10%), while waiting (9%), in meetings/class (5%) or in the bathroom (4%)

A report issued Thursday by Nielsen compares usage patterns of nearly 12,000 U.S. owners of tablets, eReaders or smartphones.

The key findings, as Nielson sees it:

70% of tablet owners and 68% of smartphone owners said they use their devices while watching television, compared with 35% of eReader owners.
61% percent of eReader owners use their device in bed, MORE

Nielsen: Android gains, iPhone slips

In a new survey of prospective U.S. buyers, RIM and Microsoft drift, Nokia disappears

The launch of the Verizon (VZ) iPhone has not visibly slowed the triumphant march of Google's (GOOG) Android operating system through the mobile heartland of America, according to a Nielsen Wire report released Tuesday.

In monthly surveys conducted from January to March 2011 -- on either side of the Feb. 10 Verizon launch -- 31% of U.S. respondents MORE

Who's winning the smartphone race?

A new study suggests that it's the manufacturers that build their own OS

Viewed by operating system, Google's (GOOG) Android appears to be pulling ahead in the U.S. smartphone race, with a 29% share of sales over the past two months compared with Research in Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry and Apple's (AAPL) iOS -- neck and neck with 27% each.

But a Nielsen report issued Thursday suggests that from the manufacturers' point MORE

Who remembers a soup ad?

You might if it were an iAd, according to a study sponsored by Apple and Campbell's

The current issue of Advertising Age makes a striking claim.

According to the results of a five-week Nielsen study, people who saw Campbell Soup's iPhone ad ...

Were twice as likely to recall it than those who saw its TV ad
Remembered the brand "Campbell's" five times more often than TV viewers
Remembered the ad's message three times more MORE