iPhone Tops in Mobile Usage

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Apple’s iPhone 3G is the most used mobile device in the U.S., according to new figures from Nielsen. The report covered U.S. users over the period of January through October of 2009.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) headed Nielsen’s list of top 10 Web sites accessed by mobile devices.

The iPhone 3G lead the list of top 10 mobile phones in use with a 4 percent share, followed closely by Research in Motion’s BlackBerry 8300 series with 3.7 percent of the market. RIM’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry Storm 9530 also snared 1.4 percent of the market, while the 8100 series Perl snagged 1.2 percent.

LG actually nipped RIM’s 6.3 percent total share, with four models — the LG VX9100, Voyager, VX9700 (Dare) and LG Vu series — that gave it a 6.4 percent share.

The only other two devices on Nielsen’s top 10 are the Motorola RAZR V3 series and Samsung SPH-M540 (Rant), with respective shares of 2.3 percent and 1.5 percent share.

The rankings confirm iPhone’s ascension as the most popular single device on the market, though challengers like Motorola’s Android-powered Droid appeared too recently to have cracked the list.

Nielsen offered two other top 10 lists ranking the most popular Internet destinations for mobile users. Among the most accessed Web sites via mobile from January through October, were, in ascending order, Google Search, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Weather Channel and Facebook. MSN Hotmail, Google Maps, ESPN, AOL Email and CNN News round out the bottom five.

Nielsen also looked at the top 10 brands accessed via mobile for the same period. Here Yahoo, including its search, maps and e-mail properties, headed the list, followed by Google, MSN/WindowsLive/Bing, AOL Media Network, and Weather Channel. Facebook, CNN Digital Network, Fox Interactive Network, ESPN and Apple round out the top ten list.

Cutting the cord

In a separate study released this week, Nielsen also noted the growth in cellular-only homes in the U.S. In the second quarter of 2009, over one in five households reported they are wireless cellular only — an increase of 16 percent from last year. The jump comes from the two-thirds of households who have dropped their landlines, as well as from young adults starting new households with just a wireless phone service, according to Nielsen.

An overwhelming majority, 88 percent, of U.S. households reported having a wireless phone in 2009, and most still maintain a traditional landline at home.