Symbian's shipments rise 52 pct in second quarter

(Recasts with shipments, adds analyst's comment)

LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - British mobile software company Symbian, 47.9-percent owned by Nokia (NOK1V.HE), said on Tuesday second-quarter shipments rose a better than expected 52 percent year-on-year to 18.7 million.

In a statement, the company also said revenue grew 7 percent in the period to 44.1 million pounds ($88.89 million).

Symbian produces the operating and application software for advanced mobile phones, known as smartphones.

"It was a good quarter for the smartphone sector, but we grew faster than the market, boosting our market share to 72 percent," Chief Executive Nigel Clifford told Reuters, adding that India and China were particular growth areas. He said although the firm does not make forecasts he was confident the market would continue to grow, and that first-half shipment figures were possible for the rest of the year.

Richard Windsor, an analyst at Nomura, said the shipment performance of 18.7 million units was well above his forecast of 17.4 million -- largely due to Japan.

"A wave of new models came to market in Japan during Q2 which partially explains the strength," he said.

He believed Symbian was very profitable and that it may start paying dividends.

Second-quarter revenue growth of 7 percent followed a first-quarter rise of 6.4 percent to 41.3 million pounds ($82 million), slowing sharply from a 56 percent rise a year earlier and 30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006.

The company said in May revenue growth had slowed because it lowered prices to broaden the appeal of smartphones to a wider market.

"We want to penetrate lower priced models," Clifford said. "We plan to remain number one and keep market share up."

The group's main rivals include Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Research in Motion (RIM.TO), which makes the Blackberry.

Most of Symbian's revenues are generated by Nokia, but the company does not break out sales per customer.

Clifford said around 40 percent of sales came from Europe, Middle East and Africa, while 25 percent came from Japan.

(Additional reporting by Kirby Chien in Beijing)