In the smartphone arena, Android OS has achieved 25.8% market share, which is still behind Apple’s iOS (28.6%). RIM’s Blackberry came in at 26.1% in Nielsen’s reckoning. Android has the most momentum, however. Among those who acquired a smartphone in the last six months, Android was the clear winner, at 40.8% in November, with iOS coming in next at 26.9%. Blackberry only captured 19.2% of the new buyer market in November, and its share has been decreasing over the past 6 months, Nielsen reports.

Chrome also achieved a significant milestone, reaching 9.98% market share, effectively 10%, according to Net Applications data. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still commands the lead at 57% market share in December, though it lost 1.36% in market share since November. The Safari browser grew 0.34%, to 5.89%,  in market share in the same period, while Firefox stayed essentially the same, at 22.81%, according to Net Applications.