Right now, smartphone users in the United States, according to The Nielsen Company's data, account for almost 30% of the market (29.7% if you're anal). As of this writing, Blackberry and iOS lead the pack in a statistical heat with Apple edging out the older OS by just half a percentage point at 27.9% of that total while Android is gaining fast at 22.7% of the smartphone market. Microsoft Windows doesn't crack 15% while legacy mobile OS's like Palm and Symbian barely survive at 1.3% and 3.4% respectively.

And future numbers look grim if you're not Google or Apple. While Blackberry hangs on just barely to its first place tie, it's sure to be replaced by Android. When asked about which operating systems were most desired by those who were looking to upgrade, Android and Apple's iOS dominated the pack in every categorical breakdown. Apple mostly managed to keep ahead of Google in this sphere, 30% of upgraders choosing Apple, 35% of smartphone owners sticking with Cupertino, and an age-based dominance in every category except for the 35-54 range. Google, however, did pick up a solid win among males, racking up 32.6% of men who were contemplating their future purchase based on OS. You can almost bet that a great number of upgraders are folks leaving the RIM stable but wanting to stick with their carrier.

For some of us, however, the astonishing figure was that 70.3% of Americans still tote around featurephones. You may recall these phones as ones that flip open and make you press this combination of numbers to say, JK LOL, 5 55 # 555 666 555. Yeah, those phones. 

Luckily, a lot of these people are considering upgrading to smartphones (or unluckily if you consider how much bandwidth hogging these folks are going to do). And just what kind of smartphone are these befuddled masses hoping to pick up? A solid quarter of them aren't sure, but broken down for age it's 27.8% of the over 55 who didn't know, with only 12.2 percent of the demographically coveted 18-24 bracket not knowing. Here Google also scored a win by three percentage points over Apple, pulling down 28% of total featurephone owners. Of course, this puts them just barely into first place, with Apple and Not Sure vying it out for second. RIM barely hangs on to double digits with 11% of the market choosing them, while everyone else scrapes what's left.

The interesting question, poring over this data, is given how strong Apple is performing in the US, tied as it is to a single carrier, how would these numbers shake out if there were a Verizon iPhone looming on the horizon? Guess 2011 is the year to find out.