Google's Android leads U.S. smartphones

A T-Mobile G1 Google phone running Android is shown photographed in Encinitas, California January 20, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Smartphones running Google's (GOOG.O) Android software were the top seller among consumers in the United States in the second quarter, industry tracker NPD said on Wednesday.

Android accounted for one-third of all smartphones purchased in the April-June period, with Research in Motion's (RIM.TO) BlackBerry sliding to second place for the first time since 2007.

BlackBerry lost nine percentage points of market share, falling to 28 percent. On Tuesday, RIM unveiled a new touchscreen device as the company tries to reinvigorate its image with consumers.

Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone was in third place with a 22 percent share.

Android is available on smartphones from a number of different manufacturers.

NPD said Motorola's (MOT.N) Droid was the best-selling Android handset in the second quarter among U.S. consumers, followed by HTC's (2498.TW) Droid Incredible and EVO 4G.

Google said recently that 160,000 Android phones were activated each day during the second quarter, up from 65,000 in the first quarter.

Smartphone unit prices averaged $143 in the April-June quarter, down 9 percent from a year ago.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; editing by John Wallace)

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