USA: Q4 2011: comScore reports: Mobile Subscriber Market Share.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending December 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android strengthened its lead in the smartphone market to reach 47.3 percent market share.

OEM Market Share

For the three-month average period ending in December, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 20 percent share and Motorola with 13.3 percent share. Apple continued to gain ground in the OEM market with 12.4 percent share of total mobile subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.7 percent share.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

97.9 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in December, representing 40 percent of all mobile subscribers. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 47.3 percent market share, up 2.5 percentage points from September. Apple maintained its #2 position, growing 2.2 percentage points to 29.6 percent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with 16 percent share, followed by Microsoft (4.7 percent) and Symbian (1.4 percent).

Mobile Content Usage


In December, 74.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 3.2 percentage points. Downloaded applications were used by 47.6 percent of subscribers (up 5.1 percentage points), while browsers were used by 47.5 percent (up 4.6 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 3.8 percentage points to 35.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 31.4 percent of the mobile audience (up 2.6 percentage points), while 23.8 percent listened to music on their phones (up 2.9 percentage points).

About MobiLens
MobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of mobile subscribers age 13 and above. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent’s primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent’s secondary device.


About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.


Contact:
Stephanie Flosi
Senior Marketing Communications Analyst
comScore, Inc.
+1 312 777 8801
press@comscore.com

PASSION! Do your customers have it?

Passion...

According to Webster's Dictionary, passion means, "an intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction".

We all experience passion from time to time.  Some of us more often and more intensely than others.  Sometimes passion is a good thing; other times...not so good.  It can cause us to act with emotion rather than logic or reason.  It can lead to unimaginable achievement, or unmitigated failure.  Whether good or bad, passion generates action.

We've all heard the phrase, "Love me or hate me, but spare me your indifference".  In business, the worst reaction you want to your brand is indifference.  It will be the death of you.  So building passion for your product should be the first step in establishing brand loyalty.

According to a recent study by SAY Media, TRU and ComScore, brands, especially those using using social media, need to find "passionate voices" more than ever.

- Consumers who identify themselves as 'very interested' [or passionate] about a category follow at least 10 "voices" [brand advocates and brand devotees] in that category.

- 83% of these followers tell friends or family about products/brands they like

But how do you build that passion within your customers?  That's a difficult question to answer because passion is driven by any number of personal and very subjective factors.  Passion can come from consumer emphasis on cost, convenience, comfort, ease, taste, quality...the list goes on and on.  However, the simple and all encompassing answer is "value", or more specifically, "significant value". 

In order to provide significant value, businesses need to place greater emphasis on the consumer end of the demand chain. Identify how your customers define significant value.  Don't just find out why they buy your product/service; find out why they LOVE your product/service (or what would result in them loving your product or service) and then give it to them in spades. 

Social media is a great tool for identifying where the passion lies with your customers and who those "passionate voices" are. Your advocates are out there.  How often do you converse with them?  Find those voices, follow them, cultivate them and support their efforts to advocate on your behalf.  Geo-social platforms like Foursquare or Places are great channels for rewarding your "passionate voices", but simple customer engagement is a passion builder as well.  Let them know their voices are being heard.  Loyalty isn't always established through rewards.  It's just as often built through appreciation and trust.  A combination can create a passionate voice that will never go silent.

What are you doing to generate passion?