Symbian OS shipments rise 180% to 6.75m

LONDON, United Kingdom – 10 May 2005 – Symbian Limited today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the first quarter ended 31st March 2005:

Highlights

• 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).

Thomas Chambers, Interim Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Symbian Ltd said:

Operational review

"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."

- Ends -

Symbian Limited Q1 2005 results
Unaudited Financial and Operational Highlights

	Q1 2005	Q4 2004	Q1 2004
Symbian OS Units	6.75m	5.68m	2.40m
Average Royalty / Unit *	US$5.6	US$5.7	US$6.6
Royalty GP % *	82%	84%	83%
Turnover (£m)	£'m	£'m	£'m
Royalties *	19.8	17.5	8.7
Consulting services	4.0	4.1	3.8
Partnering & Other	1.0	2.0	0.4
Total	24.8	23.6	12.9
	End Q1 2005	End Q4 2004	End Q1 2004
No. of products in market	48	41	18
No. of licensees with products in market	9	8	5
No. of products in development	41	40	30
No. of licensees with products in development	11	12	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 the Company Secretary, Symbian Limited, 2-6 Boundary Row, Southwark, London, SE1 8HP, United Kingdom.

Notes to Editors

1. 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 phones shipping with the UIQ user interface supplied by Symbian's wholly-owned subsidiary, UIQ Technology AB. In addition, Symbian receives additional revenue for the provision to Symbian OS licensees of certain additional independent software components.
   
   Royalty Gross Profit – 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. 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; the ability of licensees to develop new Symbian OS phones without the assistance of Symbian; and, the ability of Symbian Competence Centers to provide support for licensee product development.
   
   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 Expo held in October each year). These activities are designed to promote Symbian OS and are therefore priced only to enable 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
     
     
2. Number of Symbian OS applications
   
   Symbian tracks the number of commercially available Symbian OS applications. This is done through surveying the applications offered for sale by a wide range of on-line, commercial distributors of Symbian OS applications.
   
   To be included in the count of Symbian OS applications, an application must be offered for sale by a company, not an individual.
   
   Applications which are offered for sale but which do not meet these criteria are regarded as "Shareware". Symbian maintains separate counts for "Shareware", "Freeware" and "Open Source" applications.
   
   Only applications written for, or specifically shown to work on, Symbian OS phones are included in the Symbian OS application count. The count includes applications written using any of the wide variety of programming languages supported by Symbian OS, including C++, Java (pJava or MIDP), AppForge Crossfire and OPL.
   
   The number of Symbian OS applications does NOT include Java MIDlets that have not been developed specifically for, or have not been explicitly validated as running on Symbian OS phones. It is therefore likely that there are many more Java MIDlets that will run on Symbian OS phones.
   
   
3. 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 licenses Symbian OS to the world's leading handset manufacturers. The following companies have licensed Symbian OS: Arima, BenQ, Fujitsu, LG, Lenovo, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Sendo, Sharp, Siemens, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
   
   Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom with offices in the United States, Europe, Israel, Australia and Asia (Bangalore, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo).

Media Enquiries

Anatolie Papas Global PR Manager Symbian Ltd +44 20 7154 1383 press@symbian.com

Chris Barrie Citigate Dewe Rogerson + 44 20 7638 9571