MSNBC: A new report from Nielsen shows that smartphones are continuing to surge in popularity. The firm said that 49.7 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.S. now have smartphones, an increase from 36 percent a year ago. Among people who have purchased a new cell phone in the last three months, two-thirds opted for a smartphone.
The report also found that Android continues to dominate the smartphone market. Forty-eight percent of smartphones in the U.S. run on Google's operating system, compared to 32 percent that use Apple's iOS and 11.6 percent that use RIM's BlackBerry OS.