RIM share of US smartphone market slips

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's share of the US smartphone market declined during the three months ending in November, while Apple and Google's Android platform both made gains, industry tracker comScore said Thursday. The Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM saw its share of US smartphone subscribers fall to 16.6 percent at the end of November from 19.7 percent at the end of August, according to comScore. Android was the top smartphone platform with a 46.9 percent share of the US market at the end of November, up from 43.8 percent. Apple's market share also rose during the period -- by 1.4 percentage points to 28.7 percent. Microsoft, meanwhile, saw its share of the smartphone market fall to 5.2 percent from 5.7 percent. The industry tracker said 234 million Americans were using mobile devices and 91.4 million were using smartphones. Samsung remained the top handset manufacturer in the United States with 25.6 percent of US mobile subscribers at the end of November,up from 25.3 percent at the end of August. LG was next with 20.5 percent, down from 21.0 percent, followed by Motorola with 13.7 percent, down from 14.0 percent. Apple's share of US mobile subscribers rose to 11.2 percent from 9.8 percent while RIM saw its market share drop to 6.5 percent from 7.1 percent. RIM has been struggling in recent months and has been the subject of persistent takeover speculation.