Sales of Google's Android beating iPhone in 2010, Nielsen says

Google-powered Android phones have outsold Apple's iPhone in the U.S. this year, according to a report to be released Monday by the Nielsen Co.

Among consumers who purchased a smartphone in the first half of 2010, 27% opted for Android phones, compared with 23% who bought an iPhone. Android's total market share of 13% still lags well behind both Apple (28%) and Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry (35%).

The numbers add to the pile of evidence that Google's Android empire has become a serious threat to Apple's iPhone. In May, the NPD Group released a similar report noting that Android had outsold the iPhone in the first quarter of 2010.

The numbers in Nielsen's report do not include the month of July, the first full month that the iPhone 4 was on sale. In that sense, the report does not account for any sales spike from the new device's release, nor any subsequent effect on iPhone sales from the widely publicized problems with the device's antenna.

While Apple is the sole iPhone manufacturer, Google's Android operating system runs on dozens of phones from many device makers, including Motorola, HTC Corp., LG Electronics and Samsung. Google has said more than 160,000 Android devices were activated every day during the second quarter, nearly three times the 65,000 activated daily during the first quarter.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.