Research firm ChangeWave on Thursday said that 37 percent of consumers are thinking about buying an Android device in the next three months; the highest rate the firm has ever recorded.

On the heels of several surveys touting the growth potential for Google's Android OS, research firm ChangeWave on Thursday said that 37 percent of consumers are thinking about buying an Android device in the next three months; the highest rate the firm has ever recorded.

Of the 4,000 people surveyed this month, 37 percent are looking to buying an Android phone; up from 30 percent in June and a new all-time high, ChangeWave said. In September 2009, for example, 6 percent of people said they were interested in Android.

Apple still led the pack, though only slightly. About 38 percent said they want to buy an iOS device in the next 90 days. That is down from the 50 percent of people who said the same in June, but ChangeWave acknowledged that that survey was completed right before Apple released its wildly popular iPhone 4, so a drop was expected.

The iPhone 4 release "temporarily slowed the meteoric rise of the Google Android operating system," but now Android "is once again making major advances in the smartphone market," Paul Carton, vice president of research for ChangeWave, wrote in his report.

Research in Motion, Microsoft, and Palm were well behind the pack, with 6 percent of people looking to buy a BlackBerry, 1 percent pondering a Windows Mobile (or Windows Phone 7) device, and 0 percent thinking about Palm's WebOS.

Preference for RIM is up just one point from June, "a time when RIM had fallen to its lowest level since we began asking this question," Carton wrote. "The current 1-pt uptick is likely attributable to the recent launch of the new Torch smartphone."

ChangeWave also asked people about their level of satisfaction with their current smartphones. About 74 percent of iPhone users were very satisfied, while 65 percent of Android users felt the same. That dropped to 32 percent for Palm owners, 31 percent for those with a BlackBerry, and 24 percent among Windows Mobile users.

The growth and potential of Android has been studied quite a bit lately. Earlier this month, Google grew its market share by 5 points to 17 percent last month, enough to oust Microsoft as the third most popular mobile OS. That came several weeks after NPD Group said that as the top mobile OS sold to U.S. consumers in the second quarter.

Recently, that Symbian and Android will become the dominant mobile operating systems by 2014, while iSuppli said by 2012.

Gartner that global smartphone sales jumped 50.5 percent from last year, with the success of Android helping to push HTC into the list of top 10 device manufacturers for the first time.