Android OS Now World?s Leading Smartphone Platform

Looks like another big milestone for Google’s signature smartphone operating system. Android-based smartphone shipments reached 33.3 million worldwide �in the fourth quarter of 2010, now making Android the world’s leading smartphone platform.

In hitting the number one spot, Android has knocked out Nokia’s Symbian platform, which for years has been the leader in global smartphone shipments. Symbian now clocks in at second place with 31 million units shipped worldwide in 2010, according to the report released by research firm Canalys. Android’s sales rocketed up from just 4.7 million units shipped over the same period in 2009.

In the United States alone, Android OS-based phones now account for over half of consumer smartphone purchases, according to a report released by NPD Group.

?The US landscape will shift dramatically this coming year, as a result of the Verizon-Apple agreement,? Canalys Analyst Tim Shepherd said in a statement. “Verizon will move its focus away from the Droid range, but the overall market impact will mean less carrier-exclusive deals, while increasing the AT&T opportunity for Android vendors, such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung.”

2010 was a big year for smartphones. The global market exploded with smartphone shipments totaling 101.2 million units over 2010, almost double that of 2009. Android’s growth has been fast and furious, having launched only in late 2008 and already besting the long-established Nokia and RIM platforms. Samsung recently boasted of 10 million Galaxy S handset sales since its June debut.

With 2011 promising new smartphone technologies such as dual-core processors and Near-Field Communications, and with many of those technologies showing up on Android phones, this could be a very good year for Google. However, the coming of the iPhone 4 to Verizon might take some wind out of Android’s sails, as Verizon’s Droid and Droid Pro have been perennial bestsellers for the platform.

Rounding out the top five sales performers for 2010 were Apple’s iOS-running iPhone, which came in third with 16.2 million, and RIM’s BlackBerry OS at fourth place with 14.6 million. With its October 11 launch coming too late in the quarter to get a jump on the holiday sales rush, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 shipped 3.1 million units.

“Windows Phone 7 entered the epicenter of competition between iOS and Android at AT&T,” NPD Group’s Ross Rubin said in a statement.

See Canalys’ table below for info on 2010 smartphone sales.

Worldwide smart phone market