The Symbian operating system will continue to dominate the smartphone OS market and hold off Microsoft Windows Mobile through 2009, according to ABI Research.
Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Linux all compete for about 2 percent of all handsets; 98 percent run a proprietary OS (handset manufacturers still largely control the handset OS market). However, that small portion still equates to about 10 million devices per year, and it represents essentially all "smartphones": those phones that offer functionality beyond a typical cell phone.
About a quarter of all handsets shipped in 2009 will be smartphones and connected PDAs, ABI says. Demand for these devices will grow as users look for improved functionality such as larger screen size, better menu navigation, and a solid foundation for adding new applications -- features proprietary OSs don't offer.
Why has Symbian fared so well? One key reason has been hardware vendors and cellular network carriers' fear that Microsoft Windows Mobile could establish a strong dominance similar to its position in the PC world.
However, ABI suggests that could happen with other vendors, too. For example, hardware leader Nokia recently announced it's buying a majority of the shares in the Symbian mobile phone OS company it co-founded in 1998 with Psion and Ericsson (http://Advisor.com/doc/13681), which would essentially put the leader in handset hardware in charge of the dominant handset OS.