Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market leading open operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones, also known as smartphones.

Symbian licenses Symbian OS to the world’s leading handset manufacturers and has built close co-operative business relationships with leading companies across the mobile industry. At the end of Q1 2006 70.5 million Symbian OS phones had been shipped by licensees worldwide to over 250 major network operators.

Symbian OS is designed for the specific requirements of advanced 2.5G and 3G mobile phones. It combines the power of an integrated applications environment with mobile telephony, bringing advanced data services to the mass market. Symbian OS supports a wide range of device categories with several user interfaces, including Nokia Series 60, UIQ and the NTT DoCoMo common software platform for 3G FOMA™ handsets. The commonality of Symbian OS APIs enables development that targets all of these phone platforms and categories.