Apple's share of mobile market now over 33%; RIM drops under 10%

The latest data from the mobile ecosystem highlights Apple's continued dominance, despite explosive growth in Android smartphone adoption.

This data set from comScore tracks penetration in the three months ending in July 2012, and shows that Apple's share of the mobile marketplace is just over 33%, after growing 2% in the period.

RIM, the maker of the BlackBerry, dropped 2.1% from the previous 3-month period to a new low of 9.5%.

Google's Android operating system continues to show healthy growth, rising 1.4% to a total market share of 52.2%.

While Android remains the dominant player, Apple is still managing to increase market share despite the blogosphere's dire predictions of Apple's demise in the face of Android.

This is highlighted by looking at the handset sales figures: Apple and HTC were the only two manufacturers that posted a net gain this quarter, and Apple bested HTC's 0.4% growth with a 1.9% bump. Apple continues to sell handsets at a healthy pace, thus propping up their share of the market.

And with plenty of discussions about iPhone users spending more money on their phones than Android users, developing apps and mobile experiences targeted to the iOS platform will continue to be important to many travel brands.

The research also delved into the consumption habits of mobile users, showing growth in all areas of mobile phone usage, communication and downloads.