Symbian OS shipments rise 191% to 14.5m in H1 2005

LONDON, United Kingdom – 18th August 2005 – Symbian Limited today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the second quarter and the six months ended 30th June 2005:

H1 2005 Highlights

• Q2 2005 shipments of Symbian OS™ phones triple year on year to reach 7.8m (Q2 2004 - 2.6m).
  
  
• Total shipments of Symbian OS phones for the first half of the year totalled 14.5m (H1 2004: 5.0m units), a half-year on half-year increase of 191%.
  
  
• More Symbian OS phones shipped in H1 2005 than in the whole of 2004.
  
  
• 54 separate Symbian OS phone models shipping worldwide from seven licensees (H1 2004 – 23 phone models, 6 licensees).
  
  
• 18 new Symbian OS phone models commenced shipping in first half from Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia and Panasonic.
  
  
• Symbian OS worldwide installed base reaches more than 39 million phones.
  
  
• 16 phones of the 54 Symbian OS phones shipping are designed for 3G W-CDMA networks deployed in Europe and in Japan.
  
  
• In addition, 50 Symbian OS phone models are under development by 11 licensees (see Notes to Editors for definitions) (end of H1 2004, 34 phones & variants and 10 licensees).
  
  
• 4,122 third party applications for Symbian OS phones commercially are now available, up 64% (end H1 2004 – 2,512 applications) (Source: Symbian research, see Notes to Editors for methodology).

Chief Executive Commentary

Nigel Clifford, Chief Executive Officer, Symbian Ltd said:

Operational review

“In the first half of 2005 more than 14.5 million phones based on Symbian OS shipped to network operators and retailers worldwide.  This 191% increase on the equivalent period in 2004 shows the rapid growth in the global market for phones based on advanced operating systems and that Symbian has maintained and continues to extend its leadership of this global market.  Although we are delighted by Symbian’s H1 performance, shipments of Symbian OS phones remain small relative to the overall handset market.  Symbian’s strategic focus must remain on driving increased shipments through the adoption of Symbian OS for further handset models, and particularly for the development of lower price, mid-range handsets designed to ship in higher volumes.

At the end of H1 2005, a total of 54 Symbian OS phone models were shipping from seven licensees (end of H1 2004 – 23 phones, 6 licensees).  Of these 54, 18 phone models from Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia and Panasonic commenced commercial shipment in H1 2005.  The number of Symbian OS phones in development also continues to grow with a total of 50 Symbian OS phones in development by 11 Symbian OS licensees (end H1 2004 – 34 phones, 10 licensees).  Arima, BenQ, Lenovo, Nokia and Samsung have each shown publicly their Symbian OS phones under development.

Symbian OS licensee products are designed to meet the specific needs of network operators both in terms of supporting different network technologies (2.5G, 3G) as well as meeting the needs of specific customer segments, for example the Motorola M1000 for NTT DoCoMo for the business users (see below) or the Fujitsu F880iES for NTT DoCoMo for less technically-oriented customers.  In April, Nokia announced a new range of multimedia devices, branded as the Nokia N series, based on Symbian OS and the Series 60 User Interface platform. The first devices in this range, the Nokia N70, N90 and N91 devices – are designed to offer end users the latest technologies and digital media content, for example the Nokia N91 targets the mobile music market.

Of the 54 Symbian OS phone models shipping at the end of H1 2005, 16 are designed for W-CDMA (3G) networks, showing Symbian OS as the clear industry choice for 3G handset development. Symbian’s strength in 3G, particularly in Japan, was underlined by the launch of five new Symbian OS phones for NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA 3G network during H1 2005.  Two phones were developed by Fujitsu, two by Mitsubishi and a fifth by Motorola.  The M1000 is Motorola’s fifth Symbian OS phone but its first specifically developed for NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA network.  Targeted at the business market, the M1000 is the world’s first dual mode phone compatible with international 3G, 2.5G and 2G mobile networks as well as public wireless LANs. 

In June, Symbian hosted two events in Tokyo that attracted more than 1,000 representatives from Symbian OS licensees, Symbian Partners and the wider mobile industry from Japan and from the rest of the world to explore the burgeoning business opportunities represented by Symbian OS.  On October 11th - 12th 2005, Symbian will host The Smartphone Show in London, UK.  The Smartphone Show is the world’s largest event of its type and, reflecting the growth of the smartphone market and Symbian’s strong market position, the event is on track to grow substantially, with more than 5,000 visitors anticipated.

Technology

In February 2005 Symbian launched Symbian OS v9. This latest release of Symbian OS focuses on ensuring that Symbian OS is the best platform for the development of mid-range phones that enable both enterprises and network operators to deploy value-added services and content cost-effectively. Symbian OS v9 implements a more robust security model to support enterprise and network operators’ provision of secure commercial services as well as help protect networks, phones and users’ personal information from malware. The first phone based on Symbian OS v9 – the Nokia N91 – has been now announced and is anticipated to come to market during the second half of 2005.

Outlook

Shipments of phones based on Symbian OS have continued to grow strongly through the first half of 2005, enabling Symbian to maintain and extend its market-leading position.  Symbian’s position in 3G markets, especially in Japan , is particularly strong.  However, as in previous years, Symbian’s full year performance will be significantly influenced by new Symbian OS products launched during the second half of the year.”

Symbian Limited H1 2005 results
Unaudited Financial and Operational Highlights

	H1 2005	H1 2004	Q2 2005	Q2 2004
Symbian OS Units	14.52m	4.99m	7.77m	2.59m
Average Royalty / Unit *	US$5.4	US$5.9	US$5.3	US$5.3
Royalty GP % *	84%	84%	86%	86%
Turnover (£m)	£'m	£'m	£'m	£'m
Royalties *	41.6	16.3	21.8	7.7
Consulting services	7.9	9.1	3.9	5.3
Partnering & Other	2.1	1.1	1.1	0.7
Total	51.6	26.5	26.8	13.7
	End H1/Q2 2005	End H1/Q2 2004	End Q1 2005	End Q1 2004
No. of products in market	54	23	48	18
No. of licensees with products in market	7	6	9	5
No. of products in development	50	34	41	30
No. of licensees with products in development	11	10	11	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 and partner activities (including the Symbian Platinum Partner Program). 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 and has built close co-operative business relationships with leading companies across the mobile industry.  In the first half of 2005, more than 14.5 million Symbian OS-based mobile phones were sold worldwide to over 200 network operators, taking the installed base of Symbian OS phones to more than 39 million.
   
   Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom with offices in the United States, Europe (Cambridge, UK and Ronneby, Sweden (UIQ Technology AB)), Israel 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 +44 207 638 9571