Shipments of smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system overtook those using Nokia’s Symbian for the first time in the final quarter of 2010.

Research by technology analyst Canalys showed that global shipments of Android devices reached 33 million during the three months to 31 December. Symbian handsets trailed slightly at 31 million shipments.

These figures give Android a 32.9% market share, a sharp rise compared with a year previously. In the equivalent quarter of 2009, the Google OS’s market share was just 8.7%, according to Canalys.

Nokia, on the other hand, endured a difficult 2010. The Finnish device-maker has seen its market share slide from 44.4% at the end of 2009. This trend led the company to fire CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo last year.

Two other smartphone contenders, Apple and Research In Motion, also lost ground to Android. Canalys’s data gave Apple’s iPhone a 16% market share, down from 16.4%. RIM’s BlackBerry had 14.4%, compared with 20% in 2009.