LONDON-Symbian Ltd. reported $48 million in revenues in its second quarter, up from the $24.6 million it posted in the same quarter last year. Sales of phones with the company’s operating system tripled over the same period to 7.8 million phones in the quarter.
“In the first half of 2005, more than 14.5 million phones based on Symbian OS shipped to network operators and retailers worldwide,” said Nigel Clifford, the company’s chief executive officer. “Although we are delighted by Symbian’s first-half performance, shipments of Symbian OS phones remain small relative to the overall handset market. Symbian’s strategic focus must remain on driving increased shipments through the adoption of Symbian OS for further handset models and particularly for the development of lower-price, mid-range handsets designed to ship in higher volumes.”
Symbian earned an average of $5.30 per handset in the quarter, which was the same as the second quarter last year. The firm boasted of 48 products in the market and 41 products in development. The company said it expects sales to ramp up in the second half of the year leading into the critical holiday shopping season.
Symbian continues to lead the OS market with 61.4 percent of the market, according to research and consulting firm Canalys. Microsoft Corp. comes in second, while PalmSource Inc. places third with 10.5 percent of the market. Canalys counts handhelds, wireless handhelds and smart phones in its numbers.
