Smartphone software developer Symbian claims to have shipped over 100 million units of its mobile operating system.

The company's third-quarter financial reports stated that Symbian OS is running on 106 smartphone models from 10 licensed phone vendors. Symbian shipped 37 million smartphones this year, 13 million in the third quarter alone.

Chief executive Nigel Clifford said that reaching the 100 million milestone was "a phenomenal achievement for Symbian and a strong indication that more and more people are embracing the smartphone lifestyle".

The UK-based company first distributed its software for smartphones in 2000, when Ericsson used the Symbian OS for its R380 model.

However, some analysts believe that the 100 million milestone may mark the peak of the operating system's dominance.

Research firm TDG predicted in February that Symbian will lose market share in 2007, and will trail Microsoft and Linux in the smartphone operating system market by 2010. 

But Symbian continues to thrive, despite the predictions. An October report by research firm Canalys showed Symbian's market share up two per cent over second-place Microsoft over a one-year period. 

Symbian now holds 78 per cent of the smartphone operating systems market, according to Canalys.