At the beginning of December, Gingerbread was on the cusp of finally dropping below 50 percent in terms of Android distribution numbers. The holidays provided a perfect opportunity for later versions of Android, like Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean, to finally take hold. The latest Android distribution numbers for the end of December do not disappoint.

In the latest Android distribution figures released by Google today, it’s revealed that Gingerbread has finally dropped its deathlike stranglehold on the Android market. Android 2.2-2.3 now only makes up 47.6 percent of the entire Android market. Android 2.2, or Froyo, also saw a marked increase of over one percentage point to a new low of 9 percent.

Old dinosaurs finally showing signs of death isn’t the only good news out of last month’s numbers as Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean are finally starting to take hold in a big way. Ice Cream Sandwich climbed up one percentage point to a new high of 29.1 percent of the entire Android market. In even bigger news, Jelly Bean has finally reached 10 percent of the entire market with 9 percent of users on Android 4.1 while 1.2 percent are on Android 4.2.

In other interesting news, older versions of Android seem to be finally dying out. Last month, Android 1.5, or Cupcake, was only at 0.1 percent, but now it’s finally died out. Android 1.6, or Donut, is held on last month at 0.2 percent, but it could possibly die out in January. That would finally phase out the version 1.x Android operating systems, and we could move on to phasing out all the Android 2.x operating systems. It’s more likely, however, that the tablet focused Android 3.x operating system will die out before Gingerbread ever gives up the fight.