Android's dominance over the U.S. smartphone market continues with second quarter 2011 data from Nielsen providing the following market share percentages by operating system:

• Android OS = 39%
• Apple iOs = 28%
• RIM Blackberry OS = 20%
• Windows Mobile WP7 = 5%
• Palm/HP WebOS = 2%
• Symbian OS = 2%

If you compare this data to the market share percentages reported by Nielsen between November 2010 and January 2011, you'll see the players haven't changed, but the Android operating system has continued to grow and steal market share from its competitors, particularly from RIM Blackberry OS and Windows Mobile WP7. Check out the data from that time period below:

• Android OS = 29%
• Apple iOs = 27%
• RIM Blackberry OS = 27%
• Windows Mobile WP7 = 10%
• Palm/HP WebOS = 4%
• Symbian OS = 2%

Now, compare that information to data usage patterns, and you get an even better picture of how consumers are using smartphones. During the time period of February 2011 to April 2011, Nielsen studied U.S. smartphone data usage and found that although Apple iOS smartphone users are slightly more likely to download apps than Android users (79% vs. 74%), to stream music (46% vs. 43%), and to watch video or mobile TV (37% vs. 35%), those same Apple iOS users consume less data each month on average than Android users consume (492 MB vs. 582 MB).When it comes to which smartphone users download the most apps, that's dominated by Apple followed by Android with competitors lagging behind.So are Android users innately different from Apple iOS users? Is it to early to tell? Will other smartphone operating systems be able to catch back up? Only time will tell.What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts. Which smartphone operating system do you use and why?Image: Flickr