The debate continues to rage about who owns the smartphone market and who will own it in the future. Many new surveys claim that the Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system has overtaken the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone as the preferred product among consumers who want the equivalent of tiny portable PCs, which become more powerful as tools for managing communications and entertainment by the hour.

Other new surveys show that Apple has moved to the top spot in smartphone share, at least in the US. Still others say that the Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry retains the top spot it has held since the infancy of the devices.

Canalys, a research firm that tracks the smartphone market, has a new study which will fuel the arguments over which company is ascending and which is descending.

In Q3 2010, the worldwide smart phone market grew an impressive 95% over the same quarter a year ago to 80.9 million shipped units. Nokia retained its leadership position, albeit by a diminished margin, with a 33% share of the market. Apple’s healthy performance this quarter saw it achieve a 17% share worldwide, a little ahead of RIM, which held a 15% share this quarter. In the world’s largest smart phone market, the US, Apple ousted RIM from the top spot, seizing a 26% share as iPhone shipments continued unabated

The confusion continues, and will until several of the companies fall far out of the race and one or two take clear leads.

For now, those projected winners are Apple, and Android.

That is, unless, of course, Microsoft improbably seizes a lead.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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