Apple—fresh off of its launch of the iPhone 5—and Google continue to grow their dominance in the mobile marketplace, having positioned themselves to capture as much as 98 percent of mobile device sales by the end of 2012.

That bold prediction comes from financial research firm Global Equities Research, just a day after Apple’s flashy Sept. 12 announcement of its refreshed, larger and more feature-filled iPhone 5.

The 98 percent estimate comes from interviews with 15 iOS and Android developers at several mobile technology conferences, said Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry.

“There will not be any third spot left,” he said. “Nokia, Microsoft and RIM [Research In Motion] will struggle in the remaining 2 percent of the market.”

Interestingly, the latest mobile market share numbers from rival IT research firm IDC show Google and Apple having a combined 85 percent of the global market today, including Android’s 68.1 percent share and Apple’s 16.9 percent share, according to a Sept. 12 Associated Press story. RIM’s BlackBerry has a 4.8 percent share, down from 11.5 percent a year earlier, while Symbian (mostly used by Nokia) holds a 4.4 percent share, down from 16.9 percent a year earlier, according to the AP. Windows Phone holds a 3.5 percent share, up from 2.3 percent a year earlier.

– Techyville