Apple's iPhone share of the smartphone marketplace is growing while Android is leveling out, according to new data from Nielsen.

Nielsen?s May survey of consumers in the United States shows that while Android continues to be the most popular smartphone operating system, the iPhone is growing. Among recent acquirers of smartphones, the Apple iPhone had a 17 percent share --  ? up from 10 percent in February --? while Android?s share remained flat at 27 percent.

?What?s significant is that media-friendly devices are becoming the norm, rather than the exception,? said David Gill, Austin, TX-based vice president of client services, mobile media and marketing at Nielsen.

?Recent data from our Smartphone Analytics panel shows that consumers on Android devices spend only 15% of their time on phone functionality,? he said.

?Imagine how ridiculous that would have seemed just 4 or 5 years ago.?

Critical mass arrives
Overall, Google?s Android has a 38 percent share of smartphones, the Apple?s iPhone has 27 percent, Research In Motion?s BlackBerry saw 21 percent and Windows Mobile 9 percent.

Critical mass arrives
More than half of consumers report having purchased a smartphone in the past three months, according to the Nielsen data.

The survey showed that 55 percent of those who purchased a new handset in the past three months reported buying a smartphone. This number is up from 34 percent a year ago.

?We are seeing acceleration in smartphone acquisition,? Mr. Gill said.

?Just one year ago one-third of consumers replacing their handsets were choosing smartphones and today that number is 55 percent,? he said.

?Because hardware upgrades are highly cyclical in the U.S. it?s just a matter of time before smartphones are in the hands of the majority of U.S. mobile users.?

The number of consumers reporting having purchased feature phone in the past three months was flat between February and May at 45 percent.

Overall, 38 percent of consumers now own a smartphone while 62 percent own feature phones.

?For marketers, this is the moment in time we have all been waiting for,? Mr. Gill said.

?If you don?t have a mobile strategy, you are behind the curve and it?s moving very, very quickly,? he said.

?From shopping to leisure to work routines, mobility is redefining the way we all live and this latest data shows that we now have critical mass and unprecedented scale.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode, Assoc. Editor, Mobile Marketer