ComScore (http://www.comscore.com), a company that specializes in measuring the digital world, has released a study of smartphone use showing that the Symbian platform holds 54.4% of the Western European market.

ComScore lists Apple in second place, as of July, with 10% share of smartphone UK subscribers. Symbian is in first place with 68.8%. When it comes to the top mobile OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) Apple is also in second with 10.2% while Nokia has 65.5%.

However, despite Symbian’s continued growth in number of smartphone subscribers, its market share has fallen as growth in the Apple iOS and Android (Google) platforms has surged in the past year. Smartphone adoption in the EU5 (U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy) has grown 41% in the past year to 60.8 million subscribers. Currently, more than one out of every two smartphones is a Nokia manufactured device, although Nokia accounted for more than two out of every three smartphones a year ago.

"Nokia is still the clear leader in the European smartphone market and as the eagerly anticipated N8 launches, all eyes are on Nokia," says comScore European VP Mobile, Jeremy Copp. "While Nokia has made great strides with offerings such as the Ovi Store and Symbian 3, the pressure is on to reclaim valuable market share. By innovating and bringing new phones to market for a wide variety of audiences, Nokia's future is not predicated on the success of one handset alone."