Portable Electronics Ltd // Technology you can carry.

Smartphones and the consumption of mobile data continue to grow in popularity in the U.S. – 37 percent of mobile consumers now have one  – and Google’s Android operating system (OS) is proving to be the most popular.  According to Nielsen’s April survey of mobile consumers, 36 percent of smartphone consumers now have an Android device, compared to 26 percent for Apple iOS smartphones (iPhones) and 23 percent for RIM Blackberry.

Hungry for Data
Consumers with Android and Apple iOS smartphones exhibit data-intensive usage:

Samsung has announced that it has broken the 1m sales barrier for the Galaxy S II in South Korea, smashing sales records in the process.

Samsung actually sold 1.3m GSII units in May, Shin says; the original Galaxy S took 70 days to reach the 1m mark.

Reported by Android Community

Worldwide mobile communication device sales to end users totaled 427.8 million units in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 19 percent from the first quarter of 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphones continued to outpace the rest of the market, and a newly competitive mid-tier smartphone market will drive smartphones into mass adoption and accelerate this trend.

From the charts, shown at Google I/O this morning, Android has clearly not slowed down one bit in the application installs category. It looks like they are more than full speed ahead. Android Market application installs in 2011 has almost passed all of 2010 in just Q1 of 2011 alone. Showing that things are moving along just fine to say the least. By the end of Q2 2011 installs will have completely passed all of 2010, and by the end of 2011 things will surely be off the chart.

Handsets running Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software captured 57 percent of Japan’s smartphone market last fiscal year, cutting the share of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone, MM Research Institute Ltd. said.

Shipments of Android phones rose to 4.91 million units in the year ended March 31, Tokyo-based MM Research said in a statement today. That compares with sales of 250,000 units, or 11 percent of the market, a year earlier when devices running Google’s software started to be widely available in Japan.

Hugo Barra, Product Management Director of Android, announced a few outstanding numbers at Google I/0:

Samsung Galaxy S2 Has Reached the Mark of 3,000,000 Pre-orders Globally

Samsung Electronics’ flagship smartphone Galaxy S II is becoming a global buzzword right after its release. Samsung Electronics said that its newest smartphone Galaxy S ll has reached 3,000,000 pre-orders globally as of the end of April.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

72.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in March 2011, up 15 percent from the preceding three-month period. Google Android grew 6.0 percentage points to 34.7 percent market share, while RIM ranked second with 27.1 percent. Apple grew 0.5 points to 25.5 percent share, followed by Microsoft (7.5 percent) and Palm (2.8 percent).

The worldwide smartphone market grew 79.7% year over year in the first quarter of 2011 (1Q11), driven by a combination of vendors releasing highly anticipated models, widespread availability of older smartphones at lower prices, and sustained end-user demand.

Research firms Distimo and research2guidance, have both released reports predicting that the Android Market will overtake Apple’s App Store in the number of apps, in the next few months.