Demand for the iPhone and Google’s Nexus One will help propel smartphone sales past those of personal computers in two years, according to a new report by the Gartner research group.

As reported by “Bloomberg” (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=AAPL%3AUS&sid=armHyLeMqhMQ), Gartner says smartphone sales will more than triple to 491.9 million units by 2012 from 139.3 million in 2008. The computer market will expand to 443.1 million units from 290.8 million in the same period.

“Smartphones are headed towards that billion-unit category that handsets are in today,” says Jim McGregor, an analyst at research firm In-Stat in Scottsdale, Arizona. “The smartphone is the billion-unit pot of gold that everyone wants.”