Mobile Market Share

If you are one of the 104 million people in the U.S. who own a smartphone, chances are it's running Google Android, ComScore said in a report released Tuesday. ComScore's report focused on mobile use for the three months ending in February. After surveying more than 30,000 mobile phone subscribers, the company found that Google has continued to grow its share in the U.S. market with 50.1% of all smartphone subscribers using an Android-based phone. In November, Android had 46.9% of the market share.

If you are one of the 104 million people in the U.S. who own a smartphone, chances are it's running Google Android, ComScore said in a report released Tuesday. ComScore's report focused on mobile use for the three months ending in February. After surveying more than 30,000 mobile phone subscribers, the company found that Google has continued to grow its share in the U.S. market with 50.1% of all smartphone subscribers using an Android-based phone. In November, Android had 46.9% of the market share.

Even a behemoth like AT&T knows when it's licked. The telecom giant says it's throwing in the towel on its $39-billion acquisition of rival T-Mobile - a deal that drew scorn from consumer advocates for being anticompetitive and strong resistance from the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission. Wireless users can notch this as an important win not just for a competitive marketplace but also for newly reinvigorated regulatory agencies that, for the first time in a long time, have ruled that bigger isn't always better when it comes to telecom services.

You'd have a hard time finding a bigger advocate for Windows Phone 8 than Greg Sullivan, a senior product manager at Microsoft. When I caught up with him at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas last week, he was an enthusiastic advocate for Microsoft's reboot of its mobile operating system. Microsoft still hasn't released official sales numbers since it Windows Phone 8 debuted in October. We might get a read on that later this month when the company reports earnings on Jan. 24. But there have been some encouraging signs for Microsoft, including Nokia's recent news that it sold more smartphones than expected in the most recent quarter . Nokia has bet big on Windows Phone 8, though it didn't give a specific breakdown of devices sold.

Reeling telecommunications giant Motorola Inc. said Tuesday that it will fire 9,400 more workers over the next year and shed four more semiconductor plants to help it return to profitability. The company's action reflects continuing doldrums in a number of high-tech markets that may not have hit bottom yet and may not recover much next year, if at all, industry analysts said.