Symbian dominates the market for “converged mobile device operating systems,” and will gain marketshare through 2009, according to a report released today by IDC. Windows and Linux will also grow, reaching about 17 percent marketshares by 2009, IDC says.

IDC says Symbian enjoyed a 55.9 percent share of the converged mobile device operating system market in 2004, projected to reach 60 percent in 2009. Microsoft Windows Mobile claimed a 12.7 percent share in 2004, projected to reach 17.3 percent in 2009. Linux had an 11.3 percent share in 2004, projected to reach “nearly 17 percent” by 2009, IDC says.

The IDC report additionally found that in 2004, Microsoft for the first time had a bigger share than Palm of the market for operating systems used in mobile devices with pen-based interfaces.

Another analyst firm, Gartner, reported in May that Linux enjoyed a 13.7 percent share of the smartphone operating system market during the first quarter of 2005, compared to 4.5 percent for Windows Mobile. That report did not include Pocket PC phones from Microsoft, however.

Stephen Drake, program director for Mobile Software at IDC, said, “Symbian Version 9.0 is designed to drive the Symbian OS into mass-market mobile phones, while supporting next-generation applications, services, and content, and protecting against newly emerging threats. This platform will dominate converged mobile device volume for the foreseeable future.”

Symbian isn't the only vendor targeting mass market mobile phones, however. MontaVista last April launched its Mobilinux phone OS, aimed at featurephones, which it says represent a bigger market opportunity than smartphones. A MontaVista spokesperson at the time said that Symbian had been unsuccessful in selling a version of its OS that could scale down into featurephone-level hardware.

More details about IDC's report Worldwide Mobile Device Operating System 2005-2009 Forecast and Analysis (IDC #33676) can be found here.

 
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