Android phones have been enjoying significant growth in the smartphone market over the last year or so, but several industry analysts believe that the newly introduced Verizon iPhone is about to put the brakes on that trend. They say the reason Android has seen so much success in the mass market wasn't because of Android's strengths, but because it was available on more networks than the iPhone. Now that the Verizon iPhone is here: bring it on.

"A lot of people who bought Android phones were buying it in lieu of an iPhone because they couldn’t get one on the Verizon network," Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf said after the Verizon iPhone announcement. "Where the iPhone will have a dramatic impact is on the brand choices of feature phone users migrating to smartphones going forward. The iPhone will suck the wind out of Android’s growth on Verizon."

In agreement is Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, who predicted earlier this week that the Verizon iPhone would turn up the heat on Android in the smartphone market. The iPhone being available on the top two US carriers will be "the first true test for Android whether its share gains are real or just a temporary phenomenon due to weak competition from BlackBerry, Windows, webOS, Nokia, and others," Wu said.

According to the latest numbers from Nielsen, the iPhone still barely beats out Android devices when it comes to US smartphone share, but new buyers have lately been looking at Android instead of the iPhone in significantly larger numbers. This is in addition to mobile ad firm AdMob stating that Android is catching up to the iPhone on the mobile Web, and NPD agreeing that Android phones were selling faster than the iPhone.

Indeed, it seems like it's not just geeks who have been buying up non-BlackBerry, non-iPhone devices as of late. How many of those potential or recent Android customers will now divert their attention to the Verizon iPhone, though? It certainly depends on their motivating factor for getting an Android device in the first place, but if these analysts are correct, 2011 could show a resurgence of iPhone growth in the US.