Data released by comScore on Monday shows that amongst the top smartphone platforms, Apple's iPhone, and Google's Android are gaining market share at the expense of RIM, Windows Mobile, and Palm. However, RIM remains the market share leader with 41.6 percent.

The period covered was September 2009 through December 2009, and the numbers reported were as follows:

From comScore

The numbers suggest that Apple and Google, by virtue of their public awareness and recent product announcements are getting the lion's share of the market's attentions. On the other hand, Microsoft is the only one of the five who does not sell it's own smartphone, so their fate is in the hands of other companies when it comes to announcing splashy new products -- something that hasn't happened lately.

Google's doubling of market share has to be a good sign, but the long term trend there, compared to RIM will be the key. The Google potential has to be weighed against the still fanatical following of RIM in the enterprise and a very dominant position.

There are two things worth monitoring: the long term trends and whether the market share is trending up or down. In such a competitive market, it's a dangerous sign to be trending downward. Apple continues to exhibit that special knack for product growth. The synergy of Apple's products, their design, and the integration with Macs and PCs and iTunes has continued to fuel that growth. The slight gain made by Apple seems insignificant until put against the perspective of other products that are losing the war.