Once in a while a brave soul is needed to stand in the firing line, report the facts and hope he survives! This time it is me. According to recent web browsing data Android's worldwide market share remained flat at 36.9% while Apple's iOS grew from 23.26%, in December, to 27.21% in February.

Although all the top Android handset manufacturers are announcing new phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S4; the Sony Xperia Z; and the HTC One, these phones have yet to make it into the hands of consumers. The result is that Android's market share has remained the same during February and has failed to continue its climb since the holiday season.

While Apple is still a little while away from announcing the next generation of iPhone, the Cupertino company has seen a steady growth of iOS users since Christmas, and all the way through January and into February.

Honing in on some local markets, iOS is still the top dog in the USA with 51.95% of the market share, up just over 1% since December. While Android has actually decreased in the same period and now has 38.2% of the market. In Europe the situation is slightly different with Android dominating the field, with a 45.21% market share and iOS coming in second at 39.81%. However both operating systems have seen about the same amount of growth since December 2012 in that geographic.

The real change has been in Asia. Android grew rapidly during the holidays but since has remained flat at 34.63% of the market share, but Apple has managed to boost iOS sales by nearly 2%. But that still means that in Asia iOS is the fourth most popular mobile OS, with just a little over 10% of the market, behind Series 40 and Symbian.

It is likely that this will change when the various recently announced phones finally start to get into consumer's hands. So expect to see Android fight back over the next few months. Apple however won't be sleeping and is sure to keep on fighting with the next iPhone.

These are the facts, so please don't shoot the messenger!