Right now, Symbian OS is staring down the barrel of a loaded Android smartphone. It looks like the record in total mobile sales that Nokia’s Symbian once held has been overwhelmed by Android sales. The last quarter of 2010, Android shipped just 6% more handsets, beating the record by a nose.

According to some research, making the rounds now in a Reuters article, things look pretty good for Android.

Research firm Canalys said on Monday phone makers sold a total of 32.9 million Android-equipped phones in the last quarter, compared with Symbian’s total sales of 31 million. The landmark piles pressure on Nokia as it struggles to reassert itself at the top end of the mobile handsets market.

Following Apple’s 2007 entrance into smartphones, Google rolled out its open-source Android operating system, which has become the standard for smaller phone makers.

It looks like operating systems are the next big thing when It comes to handsets as the invention of Google Android produced a distinct separation between hardware and software in the cell phone market. It’s almost like the PC wars all over again looking over the market with Apple’s hardware-specific iOS devices on one end and the Android open-source PC-like devices growing like wildfire across the landscape.

Android continues to make inroads against all comers as rumors persist that even the powerful market share of RIM may play nicely with Google’s OS. All of these factors will cause both Apple’s OS and Nokia’s OS to continue to dwindle in the marketplace as Android’s capability to cover a broad variety of highly varied hardware will give them cause to gain ground.

Certainly this has already given Nokia pause.

As we’ve not only now seen the Symbian OS suffering in Q4, but so did Nokia with a 21% depression in overall profits. Included in that, the Finland-based company, may face further woes as Android handhelds outshine Symbian and Windows Phone 7 even in European markets. All that amid rumors that Nokia might choose to fight back against the dominance of the iPhone and Google’s Android rising star by forging an alliance with Microsoft; but there’s also always the chance that they’ll choose to back an already winning horse when they unveil their long-term OS plans on February 11^th and instead go with Android themselves (they certainly could.)

The shifting sands of the OS market when it comes to smartphones and tablet devices looks like a mean market and right now many eyes are looking to Nokia to see how they’re going to handle how they’re starting to fall behind. Apple has the benefit of a momentous following to drive their hardware—and thus their OS—along its current market trajectory; Android has the ability to cross hardware platforms and bridge technological gaps like no other system; but if Nokia wants to maintain their previous market supremacy they’re going to need to show that their OS, or at least their phones, can at least interoperate with the other big players.

Nobody knows what 2011 may hold, but it looks like the next big thing driving handset sales is going to be what apps deliver the best experience for the best price.

Nokia could still do that, they haven’t fallen that far behind Google yet and losing one record doesn’t mean a total defeat.