Android Now Most Popular Smartphone OS

The platform has surpassed Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry as the most-used operating system in the U.S.

Not bad for an operating system that didn’t exist 27 months ago. Smartphones using the Android OS now hold 31.2 per cent of market share in the U.S., narrowly beating out RIM’s Blackberry (30.4 per cent) and far surpassing iPhones (around 25 per cent). A year ago Canada-based RIM held a 42 per cent market share, but the Android OS has since shot to prominence largely because its creator Google doesn’t charge phone manufacturers to license the platform. Smartphone companies can simply upload the software onto their devices, and expend resources that otherwise would be spent on designing a unique platform to make their phones sleeker, smaller, and more attractive to customers.