Statistically, Nokia and Research In Motion Limited still rule over the smartphone OS market, but that may be changing soon. New platforms marketed aggressively by giants such as Google and Apple (News - Alert)are rapidly becoming more popular among end-users.

Apple. Google. They are bellwether players in the tech market - and they are pitted against one another for dominance of the increasingly lucrative smartphone market.

According to Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Stamford, Conn.-based market research firm Gartner (News - Alert), the first quarter of 2010 saw RIM, a pure smartphone player, make its debut in the top five mobile devices manufacturers, and saw Apple increase its market share by 1.2 percentage points.

'Android's (News - Alert)momentum continued into the first quarter of 2010, particularly in North America, where sales of Android-based phones increased 707 per cent year-on-year,' Milanesi said.

A study by Milanesi's firm says that while iPhones are outselling Android devices internationally, the Android OS has grown to surpass the iPhone (News - Alert)in North American markets.  For example, in the first quarter of 2010, the Google Android OS represents 30 percent of the North American smartphone market. For the first time ever, they have toppled Apple from its number two slot.

There's no one reason for Google's success.

While the iPhone's programming language is proprietary, Google's devices (such as the Droid Eris, pictured left) use an open-source code available to a wide variety of manufacturers. This means that manufacturers besides Google - such as Ericcson and HTC (News - Alert)- can release their own Android-supported devices.

But Apple must be considered.

After all, they got out of the starting gate first, and therefore have more applications available. These applications, which can vary in function from the frivolous to the practical, are popular amongst their users, and provide some of the draw towards the iPhone.

Apple should look over its shoulder, though, because the Android is catching up (as proven in this quarter's North American sales figures). Google is heavily marketing its OS - and the company is also trying to make it an accessible platform for programmers. At the 2009 Game Developer's Conference, the largest annual gathering of professional game developers, developers enrolled in a seminar to learn about Android were given free Google Droid and Nexus phones (valued at approximately $600). This sweeping act of generosity ensured that that the phones, and their OS', were in the hands of the movers and the shakers of the programming world.

It is hard to determine, at this point, which company will come out on top. Luckily for us, the rivalry between Google and Apple can only the consumer.

Now, from where I'm sitting, it looks like Google's Android OS is well-positioned to continue its takeover of the market. But that doesn't change the fact that I wrote this article while listening to my iPod.

Erin Monda is a TMCnet Contributing Editor. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Michael Dinan