According to Nielsen data, the Android OS now has the largest market share of smartphone platforms in the US.

PCmag reports that the aim of the study which surveyed out of 14,701 Americans was not so much to provide comprehensive sales figures about mobile OS, but to find out where the “hearts and the minds” of American smartphone consumers lie.

Smartphones using Google’s Android OS represent 29 percent of the market, just barely beating out Apple and Research in Motions (RIM) at 27 percent each. Although the Android platform is the clear frontrunner, the report points out that Apple and RIM are also winners compared to other device makers because they both create and use their own OS software on their own smartphones.

Of Android’s 29 percent market share, Taiwanese smartphone maker, HTC, holds the ground with 12 percent of consumers using the HTC Android. Motorola is close behind with 10 percent of smartphone owners, Samsung claims 5 percent, and the remaining 2 percent use other smartphone brands. Android also seems to be the preferred OS among America’s youth.

After Google, RIM, and Apple, the next most popular platform is Microsoft Windows Phone, claiming 10 percent of the US smartphone market. 7 percent of Windows phone users hold an HTC phone, while Samsung users represent 2 percent and Motorola 1 percent. Out of the remaining mobile OS platforms, Nielson reports that HP holds 4 percent of the market, while Nokia’s Symbian represents just 2 percent of mobile platform users.

Although the Android currently dominates the US market, not the same thing can be said of Europe, where Apple’s iOS holds a comfortable lead. The Symbian is next with 10 percent as it begins to decline as Android rises. In the UK, Apple and RIM are in a tight race for the number one spot, reports UK-based The Register.