Symbian Handsets expected to reach 180 Million by 2014

A new report from Juniper Research has found that shipments of Symbian handsets are expected to more than double over the next five years bringing global shipments to 180 million by 2014.  Despite the harsh competition from Android, RIM and now the iPhone, the reports expects the Symbian market share to remain unchanged during the next five years.  What really helps Symbian is that it is an open-source OS and thanks to developments by the LiMo Foundation, OHA and Symbian Foundation it looks like the entire market is migrating towards open-source Operating Systems (yes, even despite Apple’s proprietary OS).  It is also worth noting that in their report they found developers were more encouraged to design new applications on an open source OS and the result would bring great innovation in the mobile telecoms industry.  So assuming the Juniper Research proves true when can we expect to see some of this innovation coming from Symbian developers?  I’m a bit tired of the dull UI on my Nokia N86, how about you?

[Via Juniper Research]