Smart phone shipments do well in Q2

Worldwide shipments of smart phones and PDAs grew strongly in the second quarter of this year, with Symbian-based devices showing "momentum", according to one analyst.

Overall device shipments were up 45 per cent in Q2 compared to the corresponding three months last year, said Canalys. Nokia still leads in total units.

However, data-centric devices showed a 26 per cent growth. Of these, the Palm OS-based Treo 600 from PalmOne is still the leader in smart phones, with 18 per cent market share, albeit down from 22.7 per cent in Q2 2003. Canalys said supply issues are partly to blame for its sales.

However, by OS, Symbian devices - from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and others, including several Japanese manufacturers - top total shipments of almost six million in Q2 this year, with 41 per cent share. Next are Microsoft-based devices on 22.9 per cent with PalmSource at 22.5 per cent and Linux at 1.9 per cent. Other, mainly proprietary OSes prop up that table on 11.7 per cent.

In a statement released today, Symbian said shipments of devices that use its OS jumped 85 per cent year on year between the first half of 2004 and 2003. It estimates its total installed base at 15 million - still small potatoes compared to the overall mobile market but showing good growth.

"PalmOne cannot afford to underestimate the momentum of Symbian," said Canalys senior analyst Chris Jones in a statement.

By the mid-point of this year, six Symbian OS licensees were offering 23 Symbian-based products and the UK headquartered company said 34 phones and "variants" based on its OS are known to be under development by 10 different licensees.

Symbian remains a private company and stresses its statements aren't official audited quarterly filings.