According to Monday statistics released by ComScore, Google Android software, which forms the base of comparatively few smartphones currently available in the market, has posted the fastest growth of any smartphone platform over the December 2009 to February 2010 quarter.

Google Android leaped from 3.8 percent share of the Android market to 9 percent – the maximum growth for the quarter for any smartphone operating system. Meanwhile, Microsoft lost almost 4 percent of the OS market share; and Palm’s share plunged from 7.2 percent in November last year to 5.4 percent in February this year.

However, the Android platform still holds a distant fourth place in the smartphone market – which is dominated by RIM with 42 percent market share; followed by Apple iPhone’s 25.4 percent; and Microsoft Windows Mobile, which holds 15 percent of the market share.

As per ComScore data, smartphone use witnessed a 21 percent increase during the quarter, with Google and its partners gaining 5.2 percentage points of the OS market share, largely propelled by the successful launch of the Motorola Droid smartphone on Verizon Wireless.

The Motorola Droid has been aggressively backed by Verizon with a $100 million marketing campaign that helped the carrier record the sale of thousands of Droids during the holiday season.

In addition, the other noteworthy Android-based phones that emerged during holidays included Verizon’s HTC Droid Eris; Sprint’s HTC Hero; and Samsung’s Moment.