ComScore's second-quarter U.S. smartphone study shows that Android went up two percent in June to 40.1 percent share, while Apple's iOS remained steady at 26.6 percent. Meanwhile, Jumptap released a study comparing usage state-by-state, showing iOS' strength in New England and the upper Midwest and Android's greater popularity in the South and West.

ComScore's second quarter report on U.S. smartphone sales suggest that Android's recent surge in international sales, revealed in 2Q ABI Research and Canalys reports, is at least partially tied to U.S. growth. Android hasn't reached the 46.4 percent or 48 percent shares that ABI and Canalys estimated respectively for the global market, but the 40.1 percent U.S. share is heading in that direction.

U.S. smartphone mobile subscribers by OS, end of June 2011 vs. end of March 2011
Source: ComScore

ComScore's June numbers show Android with 40.1 percent share of U.S. smartphone sales. This is a two point increase since ComScore estimated Android share at 38.1 percent in May, and a 5.4 percent jump for the quarter, up from 34.7 percent at the end of March.

Apple, meanwhile was listed at 26.6 percent, which was the same as last month, but up 1.1 percent from its 25.5 percent share in the first quarter, says ComScore. Research in Motion (RIM) ranked third with 23.4 percent share, down from 24.7 percent in May and down 3.7 percent from the previous quarter.

Microsoft held steady from May at 5.8 percent for Windows 7 and Windows Mobile. Symbian, meanwhile, slipped 0.3 percent on the quarter to 2.0 percent, says the study. Smartphone ownership continued to grow, with 78.5 million people in the U.S. owning at least one such device, up 8 percent from the preceding quarter, says ComScore.

U.S. smartphone mobile subscribers by vendor, end of June 2011 vs. end of March 2011
Source: ComScore

On the vendor front, Samsung continued to steal share from others handset makers, moving up to 25.3 percent (see chart above). Apple had the biggest percentage increase, moving a full percentage point from the previous quarter to 8.9 percent share, says the study.

Jumptap study shows Android likes it hot

Jumptap released the first study we know of to detail mobile device usage in the U.S. by state. The report, part of the mobile advertising firm's monthly Mobile STAT (Simple Targeting & Audience Trends) study, found that Android does best in the South and Southwest, while the upper Midwest and New England leans towards Apple's iOS.

As Jumptap puts it, "This new data establishes an evolving narrative of a North vs. South divide in the ongoing battle of the two top mobile operating systems."

U.S. states with "over-indexing" toward particular mobile OSes, first half of 2011
Source: Jumptap

RIM's Blackberry was said to "over-index" in fewer states. These include New York — and unsurprisingly — the two states surrounding BlackBerry-crazed Washington DC: Maryland and Virginia. Oregon, South Carolina, and the upper Great Plains states also scored well for RIM.

The study, which appears to include tablets as well as smartphones, covered the first half of 2011. It was said to be based on the over 83 million unique users on the Jumptap mobile ad network. The report also showed that Android continues to lead in overall share, with iOS coming in a close second.

One surprising revelation from the study was that Sony Ericsson devices are the only Android products with ad performance nearing that of industry-leading Apple iOS devices. Ads viewed on Sony Ericsson devices averaged a 0.54 percent click-through rate, making it the only Android vendor above the industry average of 0.52 percent, but still not as high as iOS devices at 0.78 percent.

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