NM Incite found that the iPhone has been the most frequently mentioned smartphone OS in terms of online buzz on blogs, message boards/groups, Twitter and Facebook, and online news posts, capturing 40 percent of online buzz about smartphones from July through December 2011.

Games continue to be the most popular app category, and according to Nielsen research, 93 percent of app downloaders — those who have downloaded an app within the past 30 days — are willing to pay for the games they play. In contrast, only 76 percent of downloaders are willing to pay for news apps.

According to the latest figures, 31 percent of consumers who plan to get a new smartphone indicated Android was now their preferred OS.

The answer depends on whether you’re looking at operating systems or manufacturers. The battle for the hearts and minds of consumer smartphone owners continues to be a heated one according to data just released by The Nielsen Company.

Smartphone penetration is even higher among mobile users who are part of ethnic and racial minorities in the U.S. – namely Asian/Pacific Islanders (45%), Hispanics (45%) and African-Americans (33%), populations that also tend to skew younger.

According to November data from The Nielsen Company, the popularity of the Android OS among those who purchased a smartphone in the last six months (40%) makes it the leading OS among recent acquirers.

According to October 2010 data from The Nielsen Company, 29.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones, cellphones with full operating systems.

The growing popularity of smartphones like Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry devices and a variety of Google Android-based models on the market, has accelerated the adoption rate.

According to the latest edition of The Nielsen Company’s Apps Playbook, the average number of apps that smartphone apps downloaders have on their phones is now 27, up from 22 in December 2009.

Whether it‘s checking email on the go, connecting with friends through social networks or using turn-by-turn navigation, the capabilities of smartphones are convincing more and more consumers to make the leap from a simple mobile phone to a more sophisticated device.