Symbian: 20m phones sold in summer
updated 10:45 am EST, Tue November 6, 2007
Symbian Summer 2007 Sales
Over 20.4 million phones running one form or another of Symbian's self-titled mobile OS were sold during the past quarter, the company said today as part of its latest financial report. The number represents a jump of 56 percent more phones compared to a year ago and is joined by an increase in revenue of 30 percent to $52.4 million, suggesting a decrease in the overall price of phones. The statistic includes phones from Nokia, who owns a 47.9 percent stake in Symbian, as well as the Symbian variant UIQ found primarily on Sony-Ericsson devices but also increasingly used by Motorola for some of its devices. This proves that Symbian is the "preferred" OS for smartphones and similar handsets, according to company head Nigel Clifford.
The news comes in the wake of Google's announcement of the Open Handset Alliance and the Linux-based Android platform, which has garnered support from Symbian supporter Motorola as well as more directly competitive cellphone producers such as HTC, LG, and Samsung. Nokia today added that it would not rule out joining Google's initiative, though it stopped short of expressing direct interest in the platform, which would represent the first break from Symbian in years. Symbian's chief executive has dismissed Android as "another Linux platform" and suggests it may fragment the opponents to Symbian rather than unify them.
The update increases the pressure on smaller smartphone manufactuers to compete, particularly BlackBerry creator Research in Motion as well as newcomer Apple, which sold about 1.4 million iPhones during the same period but was limited to US sales.
