Symbian Limited has released its unaudited financial and operational figures for the first quarter ended 31st March 2005.

In Q1 2005, shipments of phones based on Symbian OS totalled 6.75M, compared to 2.40M for the same quarter in 2004, a year on year growth of more than 180%.

At the end of Q1 2005, cumulative shipments of Symbian OS phones since Symbian's formation reached 32M phones.

Other highlights:

• At the end of Q1 2005, the number of commercially available third party applications for Symbian OS phones had reached 3,804 (end Q1 2004 - 1,962 applications)
  
• During Q1 2005, nine new phones based on Symbian OS commenced shipping from four licensees, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Nokia.
  
• As at March 31st 2005, 48 phones were shipping (Q1 2004 - 18 phones) to more than 200 network operators around the world from nine Symbian OS licensees: BenQ, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Sendo, Siemens and Sony Ericsson.
  
• Of the 48 Symbian OS phones shipping at the end of Q1 2005, 12 were shipping to network operators in Japan and across Europe for use on 3G networks.
  
• At 3GSM in February, seven new Symbian OS phones were announced by Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia Panasonic, Samsung and Sendo.
  
• In February Symbian launched Symbian OS v9, with its enhanced security model and advanced enterprise capabilities. Symbian OS v9 is targeted at higher volume, mid-tier phones for cost-effective network operator deployment of value-added services and content.
  
• At the end of Q1 2005, 41 phones and variants based on Symbian OS were under development by 11 licensees (Q1 2004 - 30 phones and variants under development by 9 licensees).

"Symbian OS shipments grew strongly in the first quarter of 2005 to 6.75m, representing more than 180% year on year growth," said Thomas Chambers (pictured), Interim Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Symbian Ltd.

"A total of 48 Symbian OS phones were shipping to network operators around the world in the quarter. Nine of these phones - from Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Nokia and Panasonic - were launched during the quarter. Symbian OS phones were shipping from a total of 11 licensees," he continued.

Symbian's Board expects to make an announcement concerning the appointment of a new Chief Executive shortly, Chambers confirmed.