Verizon iPhone Was February’s Most Popular Phone Model, comScore Says

Riding a strong launch of the Verizon iPhone, Apple saw its share of the phone market rise nearly a percentage point between November and February, according to a report from comScore.

The market research outfit said that the Verizon iPhone was the single most purchased cell phone model for the month of February.

But while Apple’s share of the total U.S. mobile phone market–smartphones, feature phones, etc.–increased to 7.5 percent, the smartphone market growth leader continues to be Android, which now accounts for a third of smartphones in the U.S., compared to roughly a quarter of the smartphone market each for Apple and the BlackBerry.

Also of note, Microsoft’s various phone operating systems dipped from November to February despite the introduction of Windows Phone 7. Microsoft-based phones accounted for 7.7 percent of smartphone subscribers as of the end of February, compared with 9 percent at the end of November.

Overall, more people are using their phone’s browser and downloading applications, reflecting the growth in the smartphone market. As of February, the phone’s browser was being used by 38.4 percent of subscribers, up more than three percentage points, while more than 36 percent of phone owners ran downloaded applications, also up more than three percentage points from November.