Port Washington, N.Y. - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone 3G was the top-selling smartphone among U.S. consumers from June-August, commanding 24% market share, and was second only to Motorola's (NYSE: MOT) RAZR in overall mobile phone sales, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group.

The first-generation iPhone generated 11% market share from January-May. NPD also found that 30% of iPhone 3G buyers switched from their existing carrier to AT&T (NYSE: T), the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S.

Nearly half of these (47%) came from Verizon, while 24% switched to AT&T from T-Mobile, and 19% from Sprint.

"The launch of the lower-priced iPhone 3G was a boon to overall consumer smartphone sales," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD Group.

"While the original iPhone also helped win customers for AT&T, the faster network speeds of the iPhone 3G has proven more appealing to customers that already had access to a 3G network."

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