The number of people owning smartphones in the US increased by 11 per cent to 53.4m in the three months to the end of July, compared to the previous three months, according to data from comScore’s mobiLens service.

RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform, with a 39.3 per cent share of US smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple (23.8 per cent) and Android, which grew by five percentage points to capture 17 per cent of smartphone subscribers. Microsoft accounted for 11.8 per cent, while Palm rounded out the top five with 4.9 per cent. Despite losing share to Android, most smartphone platforms continue to gain subscribers as the smartphone market overall continues to grow.

Samsung is the top handset maker overall, with a 23.1 per cent share of US mobile subscribers, with LG in second on 21.2 per cent share, followed by Motorola (19.8 per cent), RIM (9.0 per cent), and Nokia (7.8 per cent).

Two out of three US mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device in July, up 1.4 percentage points over the previous three-month period, while browsers were used by 33.6 per cent of US subscribers (up 2.5 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 31.4 per cent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 1.6 percentage points from the previous period. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.9 percentage points, representing 21.8 per cent of mobile subscribers.