Almost half (49.7%) of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, as of February 2012.

According to the Nielsen research group (http://www.nielsen.com), this marks an increase of 38% over last year; in February 2011, only 36% of mobile subscribers owned smartphones.  This growth is driven by increasing smartphone adoption, as more than two-thirds of those who acquired a new mobile device in the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone.

Overall, Android continues to lead the smartphone market in the U.S., with 48% of smartphone owners saying they owned an Android OS device. Nearly a third (32.1%) of smartphone users have an Apple iPhone, and Blackberry owners represented another 11.6% of the smartphone market. Among recent acquirers who got their smartphone within the last three months, 48% of those surveyed in February said they chose an Android and 43% bought an iPhone.