With all due respect to Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and any other mobile platform not named Android or iOS, you're all just a bunch of also-rans in what's becoming "unquestionably a two-horse race," according to data and analysis by International Data Corporation (IDC). Android and iOS set a new combined smartphone OS record in the second quarter of 2012, with the two platforms feasting on an 85 percent share of the market, leaving just 15 percent in scraps for all others to fight over.

Companies like HTC and every other smartphone maker competing against Apple and Samsung face a harsh reality, albeit an obvious one -- they're not Apple or Samsung. That should go without saying, but it doesn't make it any easier to swallow the fact that everyone seems to want an iPhone or Galaxy S III. HTC, which played a major role in popularizing Android as a legitimate contender in the mobile OS space, is now struggling to remain relevant in a market it helped create.

Let's face it, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform isn't going to propel itself to the front of the pack, just like the Colorado Rockies aren't going to rally and win their division in the National League. In both cases, it's mathematically possible, but so is playing roulette and watching the ball land on 00 three times in a row. Be that as it may, Microsoft's Windows Phone platform is making personal strides, with the month of July marking its biggest growth month so far this year.

Where there's smoke, you'll often find fire, which turned out to be the case when it was rumored Amazon was working on a low-cost tablet, a device that would turn out be the Kindle Fire. Now we're hearing that Amazon wants to try its hand at the smartphone business. It was being reported less than a week ago that Amazon was in the process of collecting patents as part of its upcoming smartphone strategy, and now there's chatter that Amazon is currently testing what it hopes to be a game changing device.