Symbian set to rule the smartphone roost

GIVEN THAT it owns the largest stake in the company, Nokia's CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, is more than happy to talk up the prospects for the leading smartphone OS - Symbian.

"The Symbian OS accounts for around 70 per cent of worldwide smartphone shipments," he told analysts. "Sales of Symbian smartphones are expected to rise to around 250 million units by Q1 2011."

A significant revelation concerns 'replacement' handsets whereby users are upgrading from older models. Even in emerging markets, replacement handsets now form more than half of all sales.

The replacement market will account for about 65 per cent of the global market this year [2006] and that this figure is expected to rise to over 80 per cent by the year 2010," Kallavuo said.

Seeing that people generally stick to the same make of phone when they upgrade, this should ensure Nokia's place as the top selling mobile phone manufacturer for quite a while.

So Taiwanese manufacturers who are currently seeking to build up their own brand names will obviously be in for a tough time. Nokia's sales in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 65.9 per cent, year-on-year. µ