iPhone, Android No Match for Nokia’s Symbianese Liberation Army

Funny–all this yammering about the fast-expanding iPhone ecosystem and the coming Android onslaught, but Nokia’s Symbian is still the leading mobile operating system around the world. What’s more, it’s likely to remain so in the foreseeable future.

According to IDC’s latest Worldwide Mobile OS Forecast and Analysis, Symbian will remain market leader until at least 2013, despite some big gains by rivals like Android. This is largely thanks to Nokia’s (NOK) strength in markets beyond the United States, particularly emerging ones.

Interestingly, IDC believes Google’s (GOOG) Android will be the fastest growing wireless operating system between now and 2013, when it will be the second most widely used mobile OS in the world. Which means that the research firm expects Android to best not only Apple (AAPL) and its iPhone OS, which holds the No. 3 spot globally, but BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM) which holds the No. 2 spot.