Smart phones send Symbian software sales soaring

Smart phone software maker Symbian has announced its third quarter results - with a 201 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of phones now carrying its OS.

With 29 models of phones now packing Symbian software and 38 more currently in development, the third quarter saw 3.7 million Symbian OS phones shipped, bringing the total number of Symbian phones shipped to 19.2 million, with 8.7 million so far this year.

The software maker's revenue reflects the increased shipments - turnover for Q3 of this year was £16.3m - up £4.9m year-on-year.

Symbian is also managing to squeeze more royalty out of each device in this quarter - earning $5.50 per device in the third quarter of 2004 compared to $5.30 in the second quarter.

However, the company played down the improvements in volume, saying that the numbers were modest compared to the overall handset market.

Analysts predict smart phones will start to become more of a significant force in the handset market.

According to analyst house IDC, sales of smart phones and telephony-enabled PDAs in Western Europe in the third quarter of this year rose 38 per cent year-on-year, with 1.8 million devices sold, compared to 1.3 million in the third quarter of last year.