20.4m Symbian smartphones shipped in Q3 2007

TOKYO, Japan and LONDON, United Kingdom - 6 November 2007 - Symbian Limited, developer and licensor of Symbian OS™, the market-leading operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones known as smartphones, today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the third quarter ended 30 September 2007:

Symbian Limited unaudited Q3 2007 financial highlights

	2007 Q3	2006 Q3	Q3 YoY Change
Symbian OS Units	20.4m	13.0m	56%
Average Royalty / Unit	US$4.8	US$5.2
Royalty GP%	95%	93%
Turnover	£m	£m
Royalties	48.2	37.3
Consulting services	2.7	2.3
Partnering & Other	1.5	0.7
	52.4	40.3	30%

Total Symbian smartphone models shipping at end Q3 2007

	End Q3 2007	End Q3 2006	Q3YoY % change
Number of Symbian smartphone models in the market	134	106	26%
Number of licensees with Symbian smartphones in the market	8	10
Number of Symbian smartphone models in development	65	49
Number of licensees with Symbian smartphones in development	8	8

 

Nigel Clifford, Chief Executive Officer, Symbian Ltd today said:

"Symbian continues to lead the global smartphone market in Q3 2007 with our licensees shipping 20.4 million Symbian smartphones worldwide resulting in a healthy growth of 56% since Q3 last year. Our licensees, the world's leading handset manufacturers, have now shipped 165 million Symbian smartphones cumulatively and are benefiting from the performance and features of Symbian OS while being able to substantially differentiate their devices. Licensees are using Symbian OS as their preferred operating system for the next generation of converged mobile devices and continue to deploy Symbian OS in mass market phones."

Key Symbian achievements Q3 2007

Shipments

Q3 2007 unit shipments of 20.4 million units results in 165 million cumulative Symbian smartphone shipments since the formation of Symbian.

New models

15 new Symbian smartphones models commenced shipment in Q3 2007, bringing the total number of models in the market at the end of Q3 2007 to 134 and a total of 202 models shipped since the creation of Symbian. These cover a broad range of markets, segments and form factors. Some of the new devices launched in Q3 2007 include: FOMA Raku-Raku PHONE IV, FOMA SO704i, FOMA F704i, FOMA SH704i, FOMA D704i, LG KS 10, Sony Ericsson P1i and Sony Ericsson P1c.

Forthcoming phones

New Symbian smartphones which were announced in Q3 2007 but were not shipping as of 30 September 2007 include: Nokia E51, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N95 8GB. At the Smartphone Show in London, 16-17 October, Symbian welcomed Samsung Electronics's commitment to Symbian OS as part of its open OS strategy by announcing and showcasing the latest Symbian smartphones including the Samsung i450, Samsung i550 and Samsung i560.

New Symbian technologies to power the future of computing

Also at the Symbian Smartphone show, taking full advantage of the increasing convergence of desktop technologies and internet services with Symbian OS devices, Symbian announced new visionary technologies that give the industry the power to create devices that can handle and store large amounts of data, provide a responsive, emotionally engaging user experience, and deliver very high-speed networking while maintaining advanced battery performance.

• FreeWay is the new and unrivalled IP networking architecture in Symbian OS, designed to deliver the capability for very high speed networks, high quality audio/video streaming and crystal-clear VoIP calls.
• ScreenPlay is the new graphics architecture in Symbian OS which is designed to integrate high definition video content, life-like games and animations and significantly enhance content presentation. It enables high performance no matter which device it is used in - working purely with software on mid-range models and then taking advantage of hardware acceleration and graphics processors when present on high-end devices.
• Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) on Symbian OS will offer exceptional multicore performance for media-rich applications as well as the power efficiency required to continue to deliver industry leading battery life.

Supporting innovation through openness

UI choices

The smartphone category is broadening and our customers need to respond quickly to diverse segment, network operator and regional market requirements. Symbian offers choice and differentiation, including support for multiple user interface options (MOAP, S60 and UIQ). In particular, Symbian welcomes the recent announcement of Motorola's investment commitment in UIQ on Symbian OS.

Symbian ecosystem success

The thriving Symbian ecosystem continues to accelerate innovation and value. Symbian offers the largest choice of development environments, including native Symbian C++ for access to more phone features and optimized performance. A wealth of recently launched native applications for Symbian smartphones were on display at the Smartphone Show including: Google Maps for mobile; Social.FM social music service; Cortado free push email and extended business services; EQO Mobile, a free, fast and responsive VoIP download client; Scalado's PhotoRama imaging software offering digital camera quality panoramic pictures; and SlingPlayer Mobile.

There are now 8,314 third party Symbian applications commercially available, an increase of 36% on 30 September 2006 (6,120 applications) . In Q3 2007, the number of Symbian Signed applications grew 104% year-on-year to 3,370 applications (Q3 2006: 1,655).

Symbian has responded to the feedback and demands of the industry to introduce significant improvements to Symbian Signed, offering new choices and a faster, easier and cheaper process to developers. The new Symbian Signed process is designed to further enhance innovation and accelerate growth of the number of Symbian applications available. Symbian Signed was developed in partnership between Symbian, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, network operators and developers, in 2004, to promote best practice in testing and signing applications for Symbian smartphones. On average there are 500 test and/or signing instances per month.

Global Developments

Japan

At a press conference in Tokyo today, President of Symbian Co. Limited, in Tokyo, Japan, Haruhiko Hisa, commented that the Symbian OS market share of devices for the NTT DoCoMo FOMA network grew from 50% to 65% in the year to 30 June 2007. To date, a total of 64 Symbian smartphone models have launched in Japan by six Symbian customers: Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Nokia, Motorola, Sharp and Sony Ericsson. Symbian is hosting the Symbian Summit Tokyo on 7 November, a public event where Japanese partners will be presenting their mobile strategy around Symbian OS to over 700 delegates.

Nigel Clifford continues:

"Symbian's Japanese customers and partners have always been of high importance for Symbian. The Japanese market is very advanced in showing consumers the potential of smartphone devices. Therefore, I am particularly pleased to be announcing our Q3 results today in Tokyo."

China

On 28 August, Symbian announced the establishment of a global R&D centre in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The centre is Symbian's fourth R&D centre with the others located in the United Kingdom and India. The new R&D centre in Beijing will contribute significantly to the Symbian OS roadmap as well as the demands of the global mass market for the next generation of converged mobile devices. Symbian China's sales and marketing teams are also engaged with local customers and partners to ensure Symbian OS is aligned with specific requirements for the local market.

Symbian Outlook

Nigel Clifford concludes:

"I am excited by the potential of smartphone technology, the size of its market, and how Symbian can drive such potential. With new Symbian OS technology including FreeWay, ScreenPlay and SMP, commitment from the world's leading handset vendors and UI partners, continued success in Japan and China, and ecosystem vibrancy as demonstrated at the Smartphone Show, I am confident that Symbian will continue to lead the growing smartphone market, to outperform the competition, and to erode other consumer electronic device markets. We look forward to working closely with our customers and experiencing success over the coming quarters," he said.

Symbian fast facts Q3 2007 CEO webcast

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 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. From v9.0 onwards after 1 July 2006, licensees can choose a pricing model based on either (a) a fraction of the trade price of devices shipping; or (b) an annual volume ratchet pricing structure.

Royalty Gross Profit - Symbian in-sources certain technologies when either:
i) there is already an appropriate industry standard developed by another party; or
ii) technology can be more efficiently provided by an outside supplier (e.g. WAP / web browsers; personal computer connectivity) and, in both cases, where Symbian considers that such technologies should form part of Symbian OS to satisfy market and licensees' requirements.

Consulting Revenue - Symbian undertakes consultancy activities to assist its licensees implement Symbian OS in new handsets. Symbian prices such services to cover costs but, such activities are primarily in support of licensees adoption of Symbian OS. The level of consulting revenue will fluctuate depending upon: (a) the volume of new engagements with licensees; (b) the ability of licensees to develop new Symbian OS phones without the assistance of Symbian; and (c) the ability of Symbian Competence Centres to provide support for licensee product development.

Phone models - Symbian defines phone models on the basis that the following conditions are satisfied:
- the device is manufactured in commercial quantities; and
- the device is available in retail channels; and
- the device has a unique model identifier and/or is a publicly announced variant or derivative: US with 850 MHz radio, China, Japan or CDMA. (Up to two variants or derivatives from the following segments: US, China, Japan, CDMA; public announcement on the part of the licensee must be fully auditable through licensee's marketing collateral or web content)

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 Symbian Smartphone Show held in October). These activities are designed to promote Symbian OS and are therefore priced to enable cost recovery only.

Models in development - Models in development are defined by Symbian as phones prior to launch where licensees a) have committed a minimum development team; and b) have a visible plan to launch; and c) have a minimum expected lifetime shipment for the phone. The determination of phones in development is at the discretion of Symbian.

With more and more Symbian models being launched by licensees, such licensees are becoming experienced in developing new Symbian models with only limited or no direct Symbian assistance. As a result, Symbian is not always aware of new models prior to their market launch. Symbian is keen to ensure that licensees are able to quickly and easily launch new models and encourages licensees to build up appropriate internal capabilities and experience in developing with Symbian OS. Therefore, the number of new models in development known to Symbian at the reporting date is becoming a less accurate forward looking indicator of new Symbian licensee models coming to market.

Number of Symbian OS Applications - Symbian tracks the number of commercially available Symbian OS applications. This is done through monitoring 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 by an individual alone.
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, nor have been explicitly validated as running on, Symbian OS phones. It is therefore likely that there are many additional Java MIDlet applications that will run on Symbian OS phones.

About Symbian Limited

Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market-leading open operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones known as smartphones.

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. During Q3 2007, 20.4 million Symbian smartphones were sold worldwide to over 250 major network operators, bringing the total number of Symbian smartphones shipped up to 30 September 2007 to 165 million.

Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom, with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Asia (India, P.R. China, and Korea) and Japan. For more information, please visit www.symbian.com.

Media Enquiries

Karen Hamblen Global Symbian Ltd +44 207 154 1000 press@symbian.com	Valerie Breslow US V Breslow Communications +1 858 337 4217 valbreslow@earthlink.net
David Matthews Europe Catalysis +44 20 7101 7340 symbian@catalysis.co.uk	Seiko Konishi Japan Burson-Marsteller Japan +81 3 3264 6730 symbian.pr@bm.com
Joy Tian China Edelman China +86 10 6530 8590 x 247 symbian.pr@edelman.com

Related content

Strong support for Symbian Foundation

Symbian Foundation draws industry support from device manufacturers, software and service providers

Nokia N96 launched

Symbian welcomes the announcement of the Nokia N96 based on Symbian OS

Symbian reports H1 and Q2 2008 results

Symbian Limited today released its unaudited financial and operational figures for H1 and Q2 2008