Symbian announces Vice President, Business Management to work with leading handset manufacturers

LONDON, UK (March 19, 2001) -- Symbian today announces the appointment of Gilles Allain as VP, Business Management. Gilles will work closely in partnership with leading handset manufacturers to manage the deployment of a wide range of Symbian based Smartphones and Communicators into global markets. Symbian's licensees, which in 2000 accounted for over 70% of the handset market include Ericsson, Kenwood, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Psion, Sanyo, Siemens and Sony.

"With the leading handset manufacturers developing devices based on our platform, Symbian is now moving to a new stage in its development enabling partners to focus on delivering profitable 2.5G/3G services and applications to network operators," said Mark Edwards, EVP, Sales & Marketing, Symbian. "With his 12 years of experience in the telecoms industry and extensive contacts with operators, Gilles will play a key role in managing our relations with the rapidly growing community of Symbian licensees."

Gilles joins Symbian from six years spent at Nokia Networks where he managed their infrastructure business with key accounts including France Telecom/Orange as Global Account Director. With wide experience gained in selling GSM, GPRS, 3G networks as well as Mobile Internet solutions, Gilles has also previously worked in both hardware and software development positions with Ericsson in France and Sweden. Gilles holds an engineering diploma from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées and an MBA from the Institut d'Administration des Entreprises in Paris.

About Symbian

Symbian owns, develops and licenses a software platform for next generation mobile phones. Owned by Ericsson, Matsushita (Panasonic), Motorola, Nokia and Psion, Symbian's mission is to license the Symbian platform to all mobile phone manufacturers and to create a mass market for next generation mobile phones by working closely with wireless networks, content, messaging and enterprise wide solution providers. With headquarters in the UK, Symbian also has offices in US, Japan and Sweden.

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