According to Nielsen, almost half of US mobile subscribers now have a smartphone in their pocket.

Smartphone penetration is growing at a fast pace and as of February 2012, 49.7 percent own smartphones, so there is a good chance we are over 50 percent now.

A year ago only 36 percent owned smartphones and more than two-thirds of new phones sold in the land of the free are smartphones.

In terms of new sales over the course of the last three months, Android leads the way with a 48 percent share, while 42 percent prefer Apple’s offerings. Blackberry’s share dipped to just five percent, while all other platforms accounted for just 4 percent.

The OS to look out for in 2012 is Windows Phone and we have no doubt it will outpace Blackberry quite soon.