While Apple and Google have their own individual operating systems to run their respective smart phones, Google's Android operating system (OS) supports the rest of the competition.
"When it comes to consumer market share by operating system, Android (29 percent ) appears to be pulling ahead of RIM Blackberry (27 percent) and Apple iOS (27 percent)," Nielsen said in its survey.
But the analysis shows "RIM and Apple to be the winners compared to other device makers since they are the only ones creating and selling smart phones with their respective operating systems."
According to the survey, HTC follows with 12 percent of consumer smartphone owners having an HTC Android device and 7 percent owning an HTC device running a Microsoft OS.
Only 10 percent of consumer smart phone owners had a Motorola Android device and one percent owned a Motorola device running a Microsoft OS, the survey said.
