A new month (not to mention a new year) is finally here, meaning that it's time for us to take a peak at the latest smartphone platform market share reports.  The first one we have is from Nielsen, who is reporting that at the end of November, Apple was in the lead of the smartphone race.  However, RIM and Android, who are basically in a dead heat, were nipping at the heels of iOS.  Apple finished November with 28.6 percent of the market, while RIM claimed 26.1 percent and Android snagged 25.8 percent.  Google's platform saw the most growth (3.1 percent), although Apple managed to gain some market share, too (0.7 percent).  Meanwhile, RIM fell 1.3 percent from the previous month.  When it comes to new smartphone purchasers, the standings are a bit different: between June and November 2010, 40.8 percent of new smartphone buyers got an Android phone.

With the deluge of Android devices on the horizon, it's not hard to imagine that the platform will continue its pace.  Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised to see RIM continue losing market share to iOS and Android unless they can come out with a show-stopping device within the next couple of months.  While the mysterious touchscreen/QWERTY-toting BlackBerry Montana/Magnum could be interesting, we don't know much else about it right now.  We also have to remember that the Verizon iPhone is likely coming within the next couple of months.  It's tough to predict exactly how big of an impact it'll have when it lands, but it'll certainly be interesting to see how the market share reports look after it hits.  Any opinions on what kind of changes the VZW iPhone will have on the market?

Via Nielsen