Nov 1, 2010 14:42 GMT  ·  By

Technology analysis provider Canalys has just published its Q3 2010 smartphone market research results, which place Apple's iPhone in the lead on the US smartphone market and Android as the dominant OS in North America.

According to the research company, Apple's iPhone is the best selling smartphone in the US with a share of 26.2%. This is the first time when the Cupertino-based company manages to outpace RIM, who only got a share of 24.2%.

This is a big step forward for Apple compared to the last year's results, when RIM crushed iPhone sales by getting a whopping 31% share, whereas Apple only got 21.7% of the share. The things are pretty much the same worldwide, where Apple has a 17% share, while RIM's Blackberries only own 15%.

The big surprise is Google's OS which is now in the lead with a 43.6% share of the US smartphone market in Q3 2010, up 1309% worldwide from last year.

Smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC and Motorola delivered large numbers of Android devices, which improved the numbers from 1.4 million in Q3 2009 to more than 20.0 million units sold in Q3 2010.

However, things are not as bright for Google when it comes to worldwide results, where Nokia retained its leadership position as the most successful smartphone vendor with a 33% share of the market, down from 38% last year.

With Google's Android OS second in place with only 25% market share worldwide, Nokia and Symbian Foundation are still the uncontested leaders of the global smartphone market in Q3 2010.

As a side note, Microsoft came in fourth with only 3% of worldwide smartphone shipments in Q3 2010. Still, with Windows Phone 7 recently launched, things might improve for Microsoft in Q4 2010.

Windows Phone 7 is streets ahead of earlier iterations and provides a vastly improved user experience that will pleasantly surprise many people when they come to use it. The integration of Microsoft service assets, such as Xbox Live, Bing, Zune and Office, greatly strengthens the proposition and we are confident that the initial array of products will perform well,” said Chris Jones, Canalys Principal Analyst.