The surge means in the firm's own words just who is leading the way in the US as a whole is now too close to call, with iPhone, Android and BlackBerry all roughly holding a quarter of the market.
Market matters
Google's platform grew to take hold of 40.8 percent of smartphone sales by November 2010, Nielsen reports, with iPhone the second most popular OS on 26.9 percent.
In contrast, BlackBerry sales fell to 19.2 percent over the course of the same period.
However, in terms of total market share, RIM's existing healthy userbase means Nielsen believes the OS is still very much in the mix at the top table.
Fair share
Officially, iPhone leads the way on 28.6 percent total marketshare, with Android close behind on 26.1 percent. BlackBerry, Nielsen believes, sits somewhere between the two.
"Its share 26.1 percent - puts it within the margin of error of both Apple iOS and Android," Nielsen says on its blog.
"In other words, RIM remains statistically tied with both Apple for first and Android for third. Apple's clear lead over Android notwithstanding, this race might still be too close to call."
[source: Nielsen]
