After several delays, broken promises, and doomsday prognostications, BlackBerry's next-generation smartphone, the BlackBerry Z10, hits U.S. stores tomorrow.

The real battle in the U.S. smartphone market isn't for first or second place, at least not yet. Apple and Google will continue to tussle for the smartphone crown for some time to come. No, the real war will be waged for third place. Right now, it looks like there may have been a change in the rankings.

"Microsoft Windows Phone overtook BlackBerry OS to become the third largest smartphone platform in the influential United States market during Q4 2012," reported Strategy Analytics. "It was the first time Microsoft has surpassed BlackBerry since 2006."

Research In Motion Ltd. RIM.T -6.22% restored BlackBerry service after an hourslong outage across Europe, but left unanswered how its network went down again, less than a year after a three-day global outage.

The timing of the outage Friday came as Apple Inc. AAPL +0.86% rolled out its latest smartphone, the iPhone 5, around the world. Like former market leader Nokia Corp., NOK1V.HE -3.91% RIM is fighting to regain market share lost to newer smartphones like the iPhone and devices powered by Google Inc.'s GOOG +0.79% Android platform.