comScore has published a study of touchscreen mobile phone adoption in the US, which shows a growth rate of 159% during the past year, to 23.8 million users in August 2009. According to comScore, the growth in touchscreen device adoption substantially outpaced the already strong 63% growth in US adoption of Smartphones overall.
The Apple iPhone ranked as the top touchscreen device family, with 32.9% of touchscreen device users age 13 and older, nearly four times the market share of the next largest device family, the LG Dare (8.7%). LG Voyager ranked third with 7.8% of the market, followed by the Blackberry Storm (7%) and Palm Treo (6.5%).
The iPhone clearly set the trend in the industry for touchscreen devices, so its no surprise that it has the largest share of the market, says comScore Senior Vice President of Mobile, Mark Donovan. But as other players have entered the touchscreen market with compelling devices, competition is clearly heating up.
The comScore report notes that Smartphones in general, and touchscreen devices specifically, tend to be more popular among younger users. While 38.8% of all mobile subscribers (aged 13+) are under the age of 35, 51.4% of Smartphone users are in this age group, as are 57.7% of touchscreen device users. In fact, a significant 20.6% of touchscreen users are in the 18-24 age group. Meanwhile, less than 5% of Smartphone and touchscreen device users are aged 65 and older, compared to 13% of the total US mobile audience.