Symbian, Ltd. is a software licensing company that develops and supplies the advanced, open, standard operating system—Symbian OS—for data-enabled mobile phones.
It is an independent, for-profit company whose mission is to establish Symbian OS as the world standard for mobile digital data systems, primarily for use in cellular telecoms.
It is owned by Ericsson, Nokia, Matsushita (Panasonic), Siemens, Sony Ericsson and Samsung.
Headquartered in the UK, it now has more than 750 staff with offices in Japan, Sweden, UK, and the USA and a development center in Bangalore.
During 2004, 25 million phones using Symbian OS shipped worldwide, and more than 2.5 million phones shipped in December 2004 alone.