A survey performed by a research firm has found that consumer interest in Google’s Android OS has risen dramatically in the past few months, to the point where it now rivals interest in Apple’s iPhone.

ChangeWave Research asked 4,068 consumers in December about their smartphone preferences. Of those planning to buy one of these devices in the next 90 days, 21% said they’d prefer to have the Android OS. For comparison, when this survey was performed in September, just 6% of respondents were interested in Android.

Google’s December number was just behind the Apple iPhone’s, which 28% of respondents getting a smartphone in the next three months said they were interested in. That was down 4% from the previous survey.

In December, 18% of respondents were considering a BlackBerry (up 1%), 9% were interested in Windows Mobile (down 3%) and just 3% were interested in the webOS (down 3%).

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