11 May 2005

Symbian shipments nearly treble

Worldwide shipments of phones using the Symbian platform increased 180 percent in the first quarter of 2005 compared to the same quarter a year ago, the U.K. based company said Tuesday.
Symbian OS shipments grew strongly in the first quarter of 2005 to 6.75m, representing more than 180% year on year growth. A total of 48 Symbian OS phones were shipping to network operators around the world in the quarter. Nine of these phones – from Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Nokia and Panasonic – were launched during the quarter. Symbian OS phones were shipping from a total of 11 licensees. Shipments in Q1 2005 took the worldwide installed base of Symbian OS phones to more than 32m.

Symbian continues to strengthen its market-leading position in advanced 3G markets, particularly in Japan. Of the 48 phones based on Symbian OS currently shipping, 12 are designed for 3G networks. In Q1 2005, Mitsubishi launched its first Symbian OS product for NTT DoCoMo's 3G FOMA network. In the course of the past two years Fujitsu has launched a total of eight Symbian OS products for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA network. In November 2004, Sharp and Sony Ericsson announced their intention to develop phones based on Symbian OS for NTT DoCoMo's FOMA network.

At the 3GSM international mobile industry tradeshow in February, seven new Symbian OS products were announced by Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung and Sendo. At the end of Q1 2005, a total of 41 phones and variants were under development by 11 Symbian OS licensees (Q1 2004 – 30 phones and variants, nine licensees). Symbian OS licensee developments target a wide variety of customer segments, languages, geographical markets and 2.5G and 3G network standards.

Technology
In February Symbian announced the latest version of Symbian OS, Symbian OS v9. Symbian continues to focus development on ensuring Symbian OS competes effectively with proprietary operating systems as a platform for higher volume, mid-tier phones. Symbian OS is designed as a platform for phones that enable cost-effective deployment by network operators of value-added services and content. The licensing structure for Symbian OS v9 is identical to that agreed for recent versions of Symbian OS (see Notes to Editors). Phones based on Symbian OS v9 are anticipated to come to market during the second half of 2005.

In March Symbian licensed Microsoft's Exchange Server ActiveSync protocol. Symbian will develop an Exchange Server ActiveSync protocol 'plug-in' that will enable Symbian OS-based phones direct over-the-air (OTA) synchronization with email and other personal information management (PIM) data supported by Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. Symbian is committed to providing Symbian OS licensees with the widest choice possible in the evolving market for email and PIM synchronization protocols, and to support the development of products that meet the diverse needs of network operators, enterprises and consumers around the world.

Outlook
With shipments of phones based on Symbian OS continuing to grow strongly, Symbian has a leading position in the market for advanced operating systems, with a particularly strong position in 3G markets. However, as in previous years, Symbian’s full year performance continues to be significantly influenced by Symbian OS licensee product sales made during the latter part of the year.

Symbian's Board expects to make an announcement concerning the appointment of a new Chief Executive shortly."

Highlits

• Q1 2005 shipments of phones based on Symbian OS totalled 6.75m (Q1 2004 – 2.40m); year on year growth of more than 180%.
• At the end of Q1 2005, cumulative shipments of Symbian OS phones since Symbian's formation reached 32m phones.
• At the end of Q1 2005, the number of commercially available third party applications for Symbian OS phones had reached 3,804 (end Q1 2004 – 1,962 applications) (Source: Symbian research, see Notes to Editors for methodology).
• During Q1 2005, nine new phones based on Symbian OS commenced shipping from four licensees, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Nokia.
• As at March 31st 2005, 48 phones were shipping (Q1 2004 – 18 phones) to more than 200 network operators around the world from nine Symbian OS licensees: BenQ, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Sendo, Siemens and Sony Ericsson.
• Of the 48 Symbian OS phones shipping at the end of Q1 2005, 12 were shipping to network operators in Japan and across Europe for use on 3G networks.
• At 3GSM in February, seven new Symbian OS phones were announced by Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung and Sendo.
• In February Symbian launched Symbian OS v9, with its enhanced security model and advanced enterprise capabilities. Symbian OS v9 is targeted at higher volume, mid-tier phones for cost-effective network operator deployment of value-added services and content.
• At the end of Q1 2005, 41 phones and variants based on Symbian OS were under development by 11 licensees (see Notes to Editors for definitions) (Q1 2004 – 30 phones and variants under development by 9 licensees).