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Symbian Limited Q3 2003 results
LONDON, United Kingdom, 20th November 2003 – Symbian Limited today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the third quarter ended 30th September 2003:
Q3 2003 Highlights
- 1.23m phones shipped by four Symbian OS licensees to network operators in Japan and throughout GSM / GPRS territories worldwide (Q3 2002: 0.79m units)
Third consecutive quarter in which more than 1 million Symbian OS-based phones have shipped - 3.91m Symbian OS phones shipped worldwide in the year to date (Jan – Sept 2002: 1.02m)
- Operator Technology Integration agreement signed with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo
Three new products based on Symbian OS began shipping in Q3 2003 (Q3 2002: 0 products), Nokia 3600 and two 3G products - Motorola A920, NTT DoCoMo’s F2102V made by Fujitsu - At the end of Q3 2003, 31 phones and variants based on Symbian OS were under development by 9 licensees (Q3 2002, 16 phones and variants & 8 licensees) - see for definitions.
David Levin, Chief Executive Officer, Symbian Ltd said:
"Symbian has continued to make good progress in Q3 2003. This is the third consecutive quarter in which Symbian OS licensees have shipped more than 1 million phones based on Symbian OS to network operators worldwide. Almost 4 million Symbian OS-based phones have shipped in the year to date. At the end of Q3 2003, 10 phones from 4 Symbian OS licensees were shipping worldwide.
Symbian has established a strong position in 3G with the launch of two further 3G phones based on Symbian OS. Motorola’s A920 is now shipping in a range of markets across Europe and the F2102V built by Fujitsu is the second Symbian OS phone shipping on NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA network in Japan.
In September Symbian signed an Operator Technology Integration with NTT DoCoMo. The agreement with NTT DoCoMo represents a great opportunity for handset manufacturers to take best advantage of Symbian OS and to exploit the full potential of FOMA. NTT DoCoMo’s development of an integrated package of technologies for Symbian OS phones will enhance further the appeal of Symbian OS as a development platform for handset vendors worldwide.
For the fourth consecutive quarter, the number of Symbian OS phones and phone variants under development has grown. At the end of Q3 2003, 31 phones and variants were under development by 9 Symbian OS licensees (end of Q3 2002: 16 phones and variants by 8 Symbian OS licensees).
Symbian OS licensees have announced a number of products for launch in the next three months. As anticipated at the half year, Symbian’s full year performance will be significantly determined by licensee shipments made in the current quarter.”
Unaudited Financial and Operational Highlights
| Q3 2003 | Q3 2002 | Q2 2003 | |
| Symbian OS Units | 1.23m | 0.79m | 1.49m |
| Average Royalty / Unit * | US$5.7 | US$5.3 | US$6.3 |
| Royalty GP % * | 82% | 70% | 83% |
| Turnover (£m) | £'m | £'m | £'m |
| Royalties * | 4.4 | 2.7 | 5.8 |
| Consulting services | 4.5 | 6.9 | 4.9 |
| Partnering & Other | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.2 |
| Total | 9.4 | 10.0 | 11.9 |
| Gross operating expenses | £17.4m | £17.2m | £18.0m |
| Average permanent headcount | 743 | 670 | 731 |
| End Q1 2004 | End Q4 2003 | End Q1 2003 | |
| Cash at hand & in bank | £23.4m | £15.6m | £29.7m |
| End Q1 2004 | End Q4 2003 | End Q1 2003 | |
| No. of products in development | 31 | 16 | 26 |
| No. of licensees with products in development | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| * Royalties comprise Symbian OS & UIQ | |||
These results do not constitute statutory accounts. They were prepared under the same accounting policies stated in the lasted audited accounts of the company, which have been filed with Companies House and may be obtained from:
Notes to Editors
-
Definitions and additional information
Royalty revenue – Symbian receives a royalty on each phone based on Symbian OS shipped by licensees. From Symbian OS v7.0 onwards, the royalty has been set at $7.25 per unit for the first 2 million units shipped by a licensee and $5 per unit thereafter. Symbian also receives additional royalty revenue for devices shipping with the UIQ user interface supplied by Symbian’s subsidiary, UIQ Technology AB. Symbian outsources certain technologies when either i) there is already an industry standard developed by another party (e.g. Java from Sun); or ii) the technology is more efficiently provided by an outside supplier (e.g. WAP / web browsers; personal computer connectivity).
Consulting revenue – Symbian undertakes consultancy activities to assist its licensees implement Symbian OS in new handsets. Symbian receives revenue to cover costs (including full overhead recovery) and provide a commercial gross profit. The level of consulting revenue will fluctuate depending upon the volume of new engagements with licensees and the ability of licensees to develop new devices without the assistance of Symbian.
Partnering & Other revenue – Symbian derives a further revenue stream from training activities, partner activities (including the Symbian Platinum Partner Program) and trade shows (including the annual Symbian Exposium). These activities are designed to promote Symbian OS and are therefore priced only to enable full cost recovery.
Products in development – Symbian defines a product in development on basis of the criteria below:
- Symbian OS licensee has a significant development team engaged on the project
- there is a clearly defined plan to take the product through development to shipping
- the product is anticipated to ship in commercial volumes
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About Symbian
Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the global open industry standard operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones.
Symbian has licensed Symbian OS to the world's leading mobile phone manufacturers including Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Symbian OS phones from Fujitsu, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson are now shipping to network operators worldwide. For information about phones based on Symbian OS.
Symbian has its global headquarters in London, United Kingdom with development sites in Europe and Asia.
Company Secretary,
Symbian Limited,
2-6 Boundary Row,
Southwark,
London SE1 8HP
United Kingdom
Media Enquiries
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