According to a newly released report on the US smartphone market by Nielsen, Apple is still the top manufacturer with a 28% share; as far as operating systems are concerned, Android is the leader with 43% of the smartphone market in Q3 2011.

Apple's presence on this market has been steady over the past months, Nielsen's previous report also showed Apple owning a 28% market share; analysts have pointed out that if iPhone 4S had been released earlier, Apple's market share would likely have been well over the 30% mark.

The same report shows Research in Motion's BlackBerry platform occupying third place with 18%, followed after a significant gap by Windows Mobile with 7%. In the US, more than half the users still opt for feature phones over smartphones, with the latter having a market share of 43%.

The survey shows the demographic group most attached to smartphones are adults aged between 25 and 34, with 62% of them owning a smartphone. However, smartphones are less popular among the 56 to 64 age group, with only 30% reportedly having the latest in mobile technology.

Among teenagers, or more precisely 12 to 17-year-olds, the proportion owning a smartphone was found to be 40% - a percentage which seems rather low, as almost every youngster you come across nowadays appears to have a smartphone (in the UK, at least).