Hours after it was revealed that Google Android Smartphones are outselling Apple iPhones, Apple has snapped back claiming that the research is wrong.

Research group NPD said that in the first quarter of 2010, Smartphones using Android accounted for 28 percent of unit sales in the first quarter, ahead of Apple at 21 percent.

The sales numbers are good news for Adobe who are developing new Flash software that will allow content to run on Android based phones. Apple has said that they will not allow Flash software to run on either the iPhone or the iPad.  

 Last night Apple questioned the accuracy of the data showing smartphones using Google’s Android operating system surpassing iPhone sales. They claimed that there are no signs that the competition is gaining in the smartphone market.

According to Reuters Apple said the NPD data didn’t provide a complete picture.

“This is a very limited report from consumers in the USA responding to an online survey and does not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide,” said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison.

She said the iPhone far outsells Android on a worldwide basis, and pointed to a report from IDC last week which showed the iPhone with a 16.1 percent global market share, behind No. 2 RIM and No. 1 Nokia Oyj.

“We had a record quarter with iPhone sales growing by 131 percent and with our new iPhone OS 4.0 software coming this summer, we see no signs of the competition catching up any time soon,” Harrison said.

Apple has sold more than 51 million iPhones since it started selling the device in 2007.