According to NPD, Apple leapfrogged both HTC and Motorola to move into the No. 3 spot with 14 percent of the overall phone market, boosted by the arrival of the iPhone on Verizon. Samsung still tops the U.S. market with 23 percent, followed by LG at 18 percent.

“Apple and Verizon had a very successful launch of the iPhone 4, which allowed the iPhone to expand its market share that was previously held back by its prolonged carrier exclusivity with AT&T,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at NPD, in a statement. “While some of that growth came at the expense of Android operating system, Android models still accounted for half of all smartphones sold in the quarter.”

However, Android’s share of the smartphone market dipped in the quarter, NPD said, to 50 percent in the first quarter from 53 percent in last year’s fourth quarter. Apple’s iOS rose nine percentage points, accounting for 28 percent of smartphone units sold, while BlackBerry lost five points of market share, falling to 14 percent.

For the first time, smartphones overall accounted for more than half of all phones sold in the U.S., with consumers opting for a smartphone 54 percent of the time. That lead to a 2 percent rise in the average selling price of phones, to $102. The trend of more smartphones at lower average prices should continue, Rubin said.

“We’ve started to increasingly see lower-priced handsets come in, both at the major carriers and at some of the regional carriers as well,” Rubin said in a telephone interview. Rubin noted that consumers are starting to move to Android at carriers that cater to the more price-sensitive segments of the market, including carriers such as Cricket, Sprint’s Boost Mobile brand and Metro PCS.

“Despite the higher fees, consumers are adopting those handsets, as they are important to stay in touch with the rest of the world,” Rubin said.

The iPhone 4 was the top individual phone model, followed by the iPhone 3GS, Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and HTC Droid Incredible. Overall for the quarter, smartphone sales grew 8 percent from the fourth quarter, but total phone sells fell 1 percent.

That is a slower start than either Android or Palm’s webOS had in their debut, NPD said. Windows Phone 7′s sales put it not only behind Android, Apple and RIM, but also behind its own, older Windows Mobile operating system. Windows Phone 7′s two percent share was roughly equal to what HP’s Palm share was for the fourth quarter.

“With its mid-quarter launch, Windows Phone 7 entered the epicenter of competition between iOS and Android at AT&T,” NPD analyst Ross Rubin said in a statement. “Both competitors offer mature feature sets and large app libraries. Microsoft has made the case for Windows Phone 7′s differentiation and improved integration. Now, the company must close the feature gap, offer more exclusive capabilities, work with partners to deliver hardware with better differentiation, and leverage its extensive experience in driving developer communities to increase its app offerings.”

Microsoft has said some two million phones running Windows Phone 7 were sold to carriers worldwide, but has offered no data on the rate at which the devices were actually leaving store shelves.

AT&T, which sells the broadest array of Windows Phone 7 models, also hasn’t given specific sales figures but said that the numbers have been growing steadily since launch. LG, one of the phone makers that built Windows 7 models, indicated its sales were less than it had hoped.

Microsoft downplayed the meaningfulness of early sales figures.

“Sales are an important measure of success, but for a new platform customer satisfaction and active developer investment can be even more important leading indicators of long-term success,” a representative said in a statement, reiterating comments that the company made last week noting high customer satisfaction numbers and a growing base of applications. “These early signs of satisfaction from customers and developers are reason to be bullish about the foundation for long-term success for Windows Phone 7.”

Overall, NPD said that Android grew its share nine points during the quarter, grabbing 53 percent of the consumer market, while Apple iPhones accounted for 19 percent of the market, down four percentage points. RIM also had a 19 percent share, a drop of two percentage points.

The five top-selling handsets included three Android models and two versions of the iPhone–the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 4 was the top-selling device, followed by the Motorola Droid X and HTC Evo 4G. The iPhone 3GS was the fourth-best-selling model, followed by the Motorola Droid 2. Motorola has already said it expects to take a hit this quarter, as its top-selling devices are on Verizon, which is now getting an iPhone of its own.

The consumer research group says that Google’s software was installed on 44 percent of mobile handsets sold in Q3, up 11 points since Q2. While that data may rile up Apple fans, Android’s gain seems to be primarily fueled by BlackBerry’s loss: Research in Motion lost six points in the last quarter, falling to 22 percent, while Apple’s iOS moved up one point, to 23 percent.

The year-over-year data is more dramatic: It shows BlackBerry’s market share dropping dramatically, and Apple’s less so.

The consolation prize for Apple and RIM is that they had the most-popular individual phone models in the quarter: NPD says the iPhone 4 and the Curve 8500 took the number one and two spots, respectively.

So how did Android gain share? Because it’s on so many other new phones. Canned quote from NPD’s Ross Rubin: “The HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, and other new high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide.”

What does Apple think about NPD’s claim?

Not much. Apple (AAPL) spokeswoman Natalie Harrison tells me the company isn’t at all worried by the suggestion that Android sales in the U.S. might have leapfrogged those of the iPhone–particularly after IDC’s report last week showing Apple as the third largest maker of converged devices in the world.

“This is a very limited report on 150,000 US consumers responding to an online survey and does not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide,” Harrison said of IDC’s report.

“IDC figures show that iPhone has 16.1 percent of the smartphone market and growing, far outselling Android on a worldwide basis,” she added. “We had a record quarter with iPhone sales growing by 131 percent and with our new iPhone OS 4.0 software coming this summer, we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

Interesting points, though lumping sales of the iPod touch with those of the iPhone seems a bit of a stretch, even though the two devices do run the same operating system. The touch might run a smartphone OS, but it’s no smartphone.

And Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at NPD, tells me the company’s survey measured only smartphones. In other words, it excluded not only the iPod touch, but non-smartphone Android devices like the Archos 5 as well.

According to NPD Group’s latest Mobile Phone Track study, price cuts on devices like Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and RIM’s (RIMM) Blackberry Curve inspired a three percent decline in the average price for all cellphones in the third quarter of 2009. The overall average purchase price for mobile phones in the U.S. for the period: $85. A year ago it was $88.

An interesting trend given the fast-advancing feature sets and presumably high development costs of the new state-of-the-art smartphones we’re carrying around these days. For while these lower prices mean more sales for smartphone manufacturers and more subscribers for their carrier partners in the short term, they may well be undermining the smartphone’s price potential in the long term. It’s hard not to see the $299.99 Palm (PALM) Pixi for $24.99 on Amazon (AMZN) or the $499.99 Droid Eris for $49.99 on Overstock (OSTK) as having some deflationary impact once those retailers are done with them.

“That impact will continue,” NPD analyst Ross Rubin told me. “The iPhone 3G at $99 has created a benchmark that competitors are responding to with handsets such as the Droid Eris and Palm. Even where a handset is competing closer to the $200 mark, carriers and retailers are using buy-one-get-one promotions (that help lock in family plans). And retailers are discounting even value-priced smartphones further to drive store traffic and accessory sales.”

Rubin’s conclusion: “We will soon reach the point where the handset is a minor expense consideration and the required monthly data fees become the limiting factor in smartphone adoption.”

Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.

– Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Oct. 2008

2009 may prove to be the year that Blu-ray caught on. Sales of the high-definition DVD players–sluggish throughout 2008–are surging in 2009. According to the latest metrics from the NPD Group sales of standalone Blu-ray disc players in the United States rose 72 percent from the first quarter of 2008, driven by an increasing awareness of the technology. As NPD notes in its report, Blu-ray disc video technology is moving further into the mainstream. Consumer awareness of Blu-ray in the United States has grown 90 percent, and purchase intent is up as well. Six percent of the people NPD spoke to said they would be “extremely or very likely” to buy a player in the next six months. Apparently now that the average selling price has plummeted 34 percent–from $393 in Q1 2008 to $261 in Q1 2009–consumers find it easier to get past the “my current DVD player is good enough” barrier.

“The rising penetration of high-definition televisions and lower Blu-ray player prices are broadening the format’s market opportunity,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. “Even as options expand for accessing movies digitally, Blu-ray is carrying forward the widespread appeal of DVD into the high-definition marketplace.”

That said, Blu-ray titles are still being dramatically outsold by DVD–though sales are rising quickly.

[Image Credit: The Onion]

Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.

– Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Oct. 2008

2009 may prove to be the year that Blu-ray caught on. Sales of the high-definition DVD players–sluggish throughout 2008–are surging in 2009. According to the latest metrics from the NPD Group sales of standalone Blu-ray disc players in the United States rose 72 percent from the first quarter of 2008, driven by an increasing awareness of the technology. As NPD notes in its report, Blu-ray disc video technology is moving further into the mainstream. Consumer awareness of Blu-ray in the United States has grown 90 percent, and purchase intent is up as well. Six percent of the people NPD spoke to said they would be “extremely or very likely” to buy a player in the next six months. Apparently now that the average selling price has plummeted 34 percent–from $393 in Q1 2008 to $261 in Q1 2009–consumers find it easier to get past the “my current DVD player is good enough” barrier.

“The rising penetration of high-definition televisions and lower Blu-ray player prices are broadening the format’s market opportunity,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. “Even as options expand for accessing movies digitally, Blu-ray is carrying forward the widespread appeal of DVD into the high-definition marketplace.”

That said, Blu-ray titles are still being dramatically outsold by DVD–though sales are rising quickly.

[Image Credit: The Onion]

Wrong. According to market researcher NPD, the best-selling smartphone was Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry Curve, which slipped past the iconic device in market share, bolstered by Verizon’s (VZ) Buy One, Get One promotion.

That deal, which ran from Feb. 6 to March 31, offered a second RIM handset of equal or lesser value with the purchase of any Blackberry and a two-year contract–an attractive proposition and one that many a consumer took the carrier up on. NPD says RIM’s consumer smartphone market share rose to nearly 50 percent in the first quarter, an increase of 15 percent. Meanwhile, Apple’s (AAPL) and Palm’s (PALM) shares both declined 10 percent. “Buy one, get one free” trumps “what are the handy things about the iPhone” every time.

NPD’s Top 5 rankings:

1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
3. RIM BlackBerry Storm
4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
5. T-Mobile G1

“Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group said in a statement. “The more familiar, and less expensive Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers.”

It’s not likely we’ll ever see a similar “buy one, get one” free deal from Apple for the iPhone, although if we did, one wonders how long the BlackBerry would be able to hold on to the top spot.

Wrong. According to market researcher NPD, the best-selling smartphone was Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry Curve, which slipped past the iconic device in market share, bolstered by Verizon’s (VZ) Buy One, Get One promotion.

That deal, which ran from Feb. 6 to March 31, offered a second RIM handset of equal or lesser value with the purchase of any Blackberry and a two-year contract–an attractive proposition and one that many a consumer took the carrier up on. NPD says RIM’s consumer smartphone market share rose to nearly 50 percent in the first quarter, an increase of 15 percent. Meanwhile, Apple’s (AAPL) and Palm’s (PALM) shares both declined 10 percent. “Buy one, get one free” trumps “what are the handy things about the iPhone” every time.

NPD’s Top 5 rankings:

1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
3. RIM BlackBerry Storm
4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
5. T-Mobile G1

“Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group said in a statement. “The more familiar, and less expensive Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers.”

It’s not likely we’ll ever see a similar “buy one, get one” free deal from Apple for the iPhone, although if we did, one wonders how long the BlackBerry would be able to hold on to the top spot.

More specifically, they’re buying fewer Motorola (MOT) phones. The company saw its share of the handset market fall to 21 percent from 32 percent a year ago. And that 11 percent loss was the competition’s gain. “Quarterly unit-sales of handsets fell to their lowest level since NPD begin tracking the category in 2005,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD, said in a statement. “Even so, most major manufacturers picked up market share that was lost by Motorola.” And that’s left the market in a bit of a three-way tie. Samsung and LG each have 20 percent share to Motorola’s 21 percent. Bringing up the rear: Nokia (NOK) and RIM (RIM) with 9 percent and 7 percent respectively.

A few other data points worth noting: Consumers who actually bought handsets in the quarter paid an average of $84 for them. Of those handsets, 81 percent were Bluetooth-enabled, compared with 69 percent last year. And 65 percent were music-enabled, compared with only 45 percent last year. Finally, sales of handsets with a QWERTY keyboard rose to 28 percent from 12 percent. So while Americans may be purchasing few cellphones, the ones they are buying are more feature-rich and more expensive.