Mobile operating system company Symbian has revealed that 100 million Symbian Smartphones have shipped to over 250 network operators worldwide since the companys formation. 37 million Symbian Smartphones have shipped so far in 2006, including 13 million in the third quarter. Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS, the operating system for advanced,data-enabled Smartphones to the worlds leading handset manufacturers.
Hitting the 100 million mark with over 100 different models currently shipping from 10 leading handset vendors is a phenomenal achievement for Symbian and a strong indication that more and more people are embracing the Smartphone lifestyle says Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford. However, we are still at the beginning of a technology revolution that will change peoples lives profoundly.
Andy Brown, Mobile Devices Specialist at IT market intelligence company IDT, predicts that cumulative sales of Smartphones will reach over 1 billion units by 2011. He says:
“The Smartphone segment of the handset market is seeing strong annual growth and is expected to rise from 57 million units in 2005 to around 250 million units by the end of 2010. The advent of single-chip designs will inevitably attract a growing number of licensees and drive greater penetration into the mid-market.”
Since the first Symbian OS phone, the Ericsson R380, shipped in 2000, Symbian has worked with an ecosystem of customers, partners, vendors, content players and application developers within a marketplace demanding ever-increasing segmentation and customisation. Today, 100 million Symbian Smartphones have sold around the world, including devices manufactured by BenQ, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo, Sharp, Siemens, and Sony Ericsson.
Reaching the 100 million milestone is not Symbians achievement alone says Clifford. We thank our customers and network operators for their support. We also thank Symbian developers for driving innovation in the Smartphone market and our close network of 300 Symbian Platinum Partners, in particular our vital user interface partners in S60, UIQ and MOAP that continue to develop new software solutions and award-winning applications for Symbian OS. Our combined efforts result in compelling, innovative and differentiated phones. 
