More competition in an increasingly crowded smartphone market as Google's Nexus 4 launched on the Google Play store in both Europe and the United States.

Google releases one Nexus-branded handset per year, so it's a hot item. How hot? Well, in Europe, it sold out at the Google Play store within hours, and in the U.S. within minutes.

LG and Google partnered up to manufacture the Nexus 4, which is meant to serve as the developer device for the Android platform. But another competitor decided to crash the big day, too.

HTC and carrier Verizon just launched the "Droid DNA," which sports a 5-inch Super LCD display, with a pixel density among the highest of any smartphone. And unlike the Nexus 4, the Droid DNA runs on the 4G LTE service.

Sean Hollister, The Verge editor, said, "It's no coincidence Verizon is announcing it the very same day because they know that if people buy this Google Nexus 4 device, they're going to go to another network, they are not gonna be on the Verizon LTE network. So they are going to retain their customer base by bringing people over to this hot new 1080p smart phone that runs on their own network."

As various Android handset makers do battle, one has clearly risen to the top. And that company is Samsung. For the first time, Samsung's Galaxy S-III became the world's best-selling smartphone. It overtook the iPhone 4s, by grabbing 10-point-7 percent of the market in the third quarter. The Apple iPhone 4S came in second with 9-point-7 percent. The iPhone 5 had just 3-point-6 percent. But remember, the iPhone 5 launched late in the third quarter, so 4th quarter is when those big sales will register. So while its stock price has dropped more than 20-percent from its peak, don't expect Apple to fade away.

Sean Hollister said, "As far as the stock going down, every time there's any kind of change at Apple, any time there's any kind of new device out, people say well this is the time that Apple must have slipped up. Apple just keeps going up, even if the stock is down, the company just keeps building stronger and stronger. I don't think we've seen any major stumbling block that's really gonna set them back."

Hollister points out that Apple still remains on top if you combine the combined sales of the iPhone5s, 4s and 4 and that people are still willing to pay a premium for the Apple user experience.

And according to the research firm "Retail Sales", Apple stores are the most productive shops in the United States. Apple's brick-and-mortar stores rake in more than twice the income per square foot as the U-S second-place earner, luxury retailer Tiffany & Company.