According to a recent report from market research firm In-Stat, smartphone OSes will enter a critical period, and the October 6 announcements from AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Palm, and Microsoft are the best-suited examples in this direction. Basically, the research firm suggests that the competition on the smartphone market is about to intensify.

“With Android on the upswing, Palm’s WebOS starting to expand, and Apple’s iPhone not showing signs of slowing down, the battleground, and subsequent weeding-out phase of the smartphone OS war has started,” stated In-Stat analyst Allen Nogee.

The announcements the firm refers to include the one coming from AT&T that it allows for VoIP applications to run on its network when installed on the iPhone. This announcement is believed to have come shortly after the carrier was forced to allow VoIP apps as FCC is looking deeper into the network neutrality in the mobile area. According to In-Stat, the announcement is likely to be followed by a rise in data usage costs on the carrier's network, since it can’t charge high prices for voice.

Another US carrier, Verizon, announced last week that it was about to launch mobile phones that would run on Google's Android OS, and that it would include the Google Voice application on its devices. The research firm suggests that Big Red shows this way that it won't launch an Apple iPhone in the near future, and it is also gearing up for LTE deployments, slated for next year.

Redmond-based Microsoft announced on October 6 that its latest mobile OS, Windows Mobile 6.5, was finally available on the market. The company is hoping that the new platform flavor will prove that it is capable of playing well on the mobile phone market too, though it will still need some time before users are convinced, it seems.

As for Sunnyvale phone maker Palm, it announced last week that it had opened the webOS doors to developers, who now could submit paid apps to the Palm App Catalog, and who would receive a 70 percent cut from profits. Moreover, Palm also said developers would see minimal oversight or rejection of legitimate applications.