iOS vs. Android: Who Will Win the Smart Phone War?

Yes, the smart phone market is exploding, but not everyone is popping the Champagne. In the past year, shipments grew a whopping 43 percent, adding up to a record 60 million in sales for the second quarter of 2010. RIM is still at the top of the smart phone heap, according to comScore, with 42.1 percent market share as of May, with Apple in second place with 24.4 percent. Meanwhile, Google's Android OS jumped from 9 to 13 percent in just three months.

More telling, though, is what consumers say they plan to buy next. A recent Changewave survey conducted in June showed that a staggering 52 percent of smart phone buyers planned to buy an iPhone, compared to a combined 28 percent for Android phones (though that included only HTC plus Motorola devices). Only 6 percent said that they were interested in a BlackBerry device. Apple and Google pull away from the field when it comes to loyalty. In a recent Nielsen survey, 80 percent of iPhone users want their next device to run iOS, with 70 percent of Android users saying the same thing about their next purchase. BlackBerry notched a score of just 47 percent.

Given that Apple and Android seem to have most of the momentum, we got some of the most notable mobile analysts to weigh in on this epic battle, including Ken Dulaney from Gartner, Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group, and William Stofega from IDC.