AccountancyAge have an interesting feature / interview with Thomas Chambers the Chief Financing Officer of Symbian. There's a good analysis of Symbian financing in the article too and its well worth a read.

The article discusses the IPO of Symbian. At one point Symbian was estimated to be worth £10 billion, now its nearer £250 million, but most analysts agree that it will go up over the next few years. Once the Symbian OS phones start selling in volume Symbian will have a great revenue stream ($5 a phone)... They need around 10 million phones a yeat to break even, and given how many are sold a year that might not be too difficult.

There's also an interesting section on the interactions of the shareholders, and the need to get competitors in the handset market to co-operate within Symbian. The strength of Nokia within Symbian is also discussed (the major client of Symbian at the moment is Nokia, but that could soon chnage). Some analsysts are worried that Nokia is controlling Symbian too much, but I would suggest its all a matter of timing. Yes if Symbian does not make money within 3 years it is in dnager of being swallowed by Nokia when funding runs out... (GEOS anyone?). However in my opinion the other shareholders of Symbian will gain influence as their handset go on sale and Symbian will be in profit for 2003, and with the way the shareholding is set up, no one company will become too powerful.

Anyway enough rambling go read...