Amazon to stab retail in the heart, says report. Welcome to Q4!

Verizon and AT&T together accounted for 69% of data service revenues during the third quarter. And indeed, with data revenues steadily on the rise — up 5% quarter over quarter and 21% year over year — Chetan Sharma Consulting is expecting a mobile eclipse to hit during the second-quarter of 2012, when rising data and falling voice will for a split second overlap, before commencing their respective courses. Someone should sell special glasses.

All but that last point are included in the firm's information-packed "U.S. Wireless Data Market Update Q3 2011" report, which is predicting a "fascinating 2012 in the communications/computing industry."

Also contributing to the juicy developments ahead, according to the report, is the "blistering pace" of the market's growth and restructuring. This includes smartphones accounting for 57% of all devices sold during the third quarter, Samsung leading in sales (though "iPhone leads in mindshare") and Amazon's dramatic entry into the tablet space.

Amazon, writes CSC, "entered the battle on its own turf." As such, "OEMs just can't compete with that strategy without a complex rethink of their product strategy. What happens when Amazon's strategy migrates to handsets?"

CSC adds that Amazon, with its "tight integration of commerce, cloud and advertising," has in some sense "out-maneuvered even Google" and it won't be surprised if Apple-like Amazon retail spaces start popping up, putting "a dagger at the heart of retail."

And in the fragments of world beyond Apple, Android and Amazon?

CSC expects the new Windows Phone handsets from Microsoft and Nokia to "at least give them a fighting chance in 2012," though believes Xbox with Kinect integration is Microsoft's "best card for 2012." (CP: Microsoft XBox 360 delivers voice-controlled TV and success from the start)

Other nice stats from the report:

-- Verizon accounted for almost 50% of Q3 growth in the connected device space, with 4.9 million net-adds. AT&T, which for the eighth consecutive quarter added more connected device users than postpaid subscribers, now supports 43% of connected devices in the United States.

-- 87% of tablets use only Wi-Fi (that includes units with inactivated cell chipsets). Operators that bundle multiple devices into single plans will "see a better yield in this category," says CSC. Verizon has already announced family data plans for 2012.

-- Verizon also added 1.4 million new LTE subscribers during the third quarter, making it the world's largest LTE operator.

-- Samsung may have dominated the year, but with the Apple iPhone now also selling at Sprint, says the report, it's likely to be the "top-selling device for the most important quarter of the year."