Symbian Limited, the market leader in open operating systems for mobile phones, today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the second quarter ended 30 June 2008:
Symbian Limited unaudited Q2 2008 financial highlights
2008 H1
2007 H1
H1 YoY change
Q2 2008 Q2 2007 Q2 YoY change
Symbian OS Units
38.1m
34.6m
10%
19.6m
18.7m
5%
Average Royalty / Unit
US$3.7
US$4.4
-16%
US$3.4
US$4.3
-21%
Royalty GP%
97%
93%
97%
93%
Turnover
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
£m
Royalties
70.8
78.2
-9%
32.9
40.3
-18%
Consulting Services
9.0
5.1
4.2
2.6
Partnering & Other
1.5
2.1
0.7
1.2
Total
81.3
85.4
-5%
37.8
44.1
-14%
Total Symbian phone models shipping at end H1 2008
End H1 2008
End H1 2007
YoY change
Number of Symbian phone models in the market
159
122
30%
Number of Symbian phone models in the market since formation of Symbian
249
187
33%
Number of licensees with Symbian phone in the market
8
8
Number of Symbian phone models in development
92
62
48%
Highlights – Q2 2008 as at 30 June 2008
- 225.9 million cumulative Symbian OS™ units shipped across 249 different phone models since the formation of Symbian
- During Q2, 19.6 million Symbian mobile phones shipped to consumers worldwide an increase of 5% on Q2 2007. As expected, average royalty per unit declined as licensees migrate onto v9 of Symbian OS with a licensing pricing structure designed to significantly increase market adoption
- At the end of Q2, seven Symbian licensees had 92 phone models in development, an increase of 48% on Q2 2007 (62 models) – the highest ever achieved
- In Q2, eight handset vendors including the world’s five leading vendors, were shipping 159 mobile phone models, the majority of which were based on Symbian OS v9, including the latest release of Symbian OS v9.3, optimized for convergence
- 14 new models commenced shipment in Q2 including the Motorola Z10, Nokia E71, Nokia N78 and Nokia 6220, Samsung G810, Sony Ericsson G700 and Sony Ericsson G900, and several handsets for the NTT DOCOMO FOMA™ network including the SO906i, F906i and SH906iTV
- 76% growth in consulting services from £5.1 million in H1 2007 to £9.0 million in H1 2008 driven by a demand for Symbian services resulting from a broader and deeper range of customer mobile phone products in the pipeline
- Symbian announced the ‘Symbian Partner Network’ (SPN) program, replacing the Platinum Program. The SPN offers new benefits including improved access to online developer resources, and a lower membership fee
- 9,834 third-party Symbian applications are now commercially available, a 25% increase on 30 June 2007 (7,888 applications). Source: Symbian research, see Notes to Editors
- On 24th June, marking Symbian’s 10 year anniversary, Nokia announced its intent to acquire the share of Symbian Limited that it did not already own (approximately 52%). The transaction is expected to be completed during the second half of 2008 and is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions
- Simultaneously, industry leaders including AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone announced plans to establish the Symbian Foundation, which will combine Symbian OS with S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create the world’s leading unified, royalty free mobile software platform. The Foundation is expected to start operating during the first half of 2009, subject to the closing of the acquisition of Symbian Ltd by Nokia
Nigel Clifford, Symbian CEO, commented:
“We are pleased to report that a total of 19.6 million Symbian mobile phones were shipped over 250 major network operators globally in the quarter. Symbian celebrated its tenth anniversary at the end of June, with a cumulative total of 225.9 million Symbian mobile phones shipped since formation. This number is based on nearly 250 models, designed and shipped by the world’s leading handset manufacturers.
In ten years we’ve achieved an enormous amount. Together with our customers we have invented, built and continue to lead the smartphone market. We are particularly pleased that our customers have reported that Symbian mobile phones are strong contributors to their financial performance and that each of our licensees has shipped at least one new Symbian mobile phone model since the beginning of 2008.
We’ve worked hard to extend the close collaboration with our customers and operators and have built a strong product pipeline. Our highly innovative product roadmap will ensure that Symbian OS continues to lead in the high-end converged device and smartphone markets whilst its penetration into the mid-range segments increases. As proof of this, there are now 159 Symbian phone models available in the global market from eight handset vendors – a rise of 30% over last year – and another 92 phone models are in development. This is reflected in an increased demand for consulting services by 76%.”
Q2 device shipments – varied models for varied markets
14 new models commenced shipment in Q2 with a total of 27 new models shipping in H1. Q2 new models include the Motorola Z10, Nokia E71, Nokia N78 and Nokia 6220, Samsung G810, Sony Ericsson G700 and Sony Ericsson G900, and several handsets for the Japanese market including NTT DOCOMO’s FOMA SO906i, F906i and SH906iTV. These cover a broad range of market segments and form factors including high-end converged devices, smartphones and mid-range mobile phones and half are GPS enabled. The majority of these new phones are based on Symbian OS v9, including some of which are based on Symbian’s latest product offering, Symbian OS v9.3, and are currently shipping in Japan and Europe.
Accelerating innovation and application development
Symbian Ready
In May 2008, Symbian launched the Symbian Ready technology validation program, designed to offer customers direct access to pre-validated ecosystem solutions. In addition to helping ecosystem partners make the most of Symbian OS technologies by developing in the most efficient way, Symbian Ready also offers ecosystem partners the opportunity to showcase their solutions to handset manufacturers and network operators through a variety of co-marketing initiatives such as the Symbian Ready Directory and promotion on Symbian Developer Network.
Symbian Ready is an umbrella program, comprising two strands at launch – Symbian Ready AUTO and Symbian Ready VERO. In Q2 2008, 6 ecosystem companies are undergoing validation through the Symbian Ready program, including, for Symbian Ready VERO, three of the top four NAND vendors are either validated for Symbian OS or engaged in validation.
Symbian Partner Network
Symbian launched its new partner program, the Symbian Partner Network (SPN). This new program replaces the Platinum Program and focuses on harnessing innovation by further strengthening the ecosystem, helping its members and customers to build compelling devices and solutions more quickly and at a lower cost. Key benefits to the SPN include enhanced marketing and business development opportunities as well as improved access to online developer support resources, including technology roadmaps and other documentation. Membership is now available at a new competitive annual membership fee of US$1,500.
Symbian Partner Network, along with other market leaders and visionaries including customers, media and analysts, will come together to help shape the future of mobile at the annual Smartphone Show in London, UK on 21st – 22nd October.
Symbian Foundation announcement
Symbian Limited remains focused on further strengthening the development and adoption of its open mobile platform with a vision of becoming the most widely used software platform on the planet. On 24th June, Nokia announced its intent to acquire the remaining Symbian shares that it didn’t already own and simultaneously announced, with other industry leaders, plans to establish the Symbian Foundation – major steps that follow our vision and mark the next stage in the evolution of Symbian OS.
Through the Symbian Foundation, mobile leaders plan to unify the Symbian software platform with user interface software and provide this new platform under a royalty-free license. The initiative is supported by all our major shareholders and Symbian management. Membership of this non-profit foundation will be open to all organizations and plans for the foundation have already received wide support from many industry leaders, with initial board members including five leading handset manufacturers (LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson), leading operators (AT&T, NTT DOCOMO and Vodafone) and hardware manufacturers (STMicroelectronics and TI).
Nigel Clifford continued, “Ten years ago, Symbian was established by far sighted players to offer an advanced open operating system and software skills to the whole mobile industry. Our vision is for Symbian OS to become the most widely used software platform on the planet and indeed today it leads its market by any measure. The Symbian Foundation is a bold new step to achieve that vision by embracing a complete and proven platform, offered in an open and royalty-free way, designed to stimulate innovation which is at the heart of everything we do.
The mobile industry coming together to create the Symbian Foundation will mark the biggest contribution to an open community we believe has ever been made, with software assets of around 40 million lines of code being contributed.”
Symbian Outlook
“For the past ten years, helping our customers succeed has been our number one priority. We believe we have remained number one because we’re the only company in our industry that is built from the ground up to create what might be described as a ‘pure, open mobile OS’ for the good of the industry in consultation with our partners and licensees.
Achieving 225.9 million devices is tremendous success but we know that others are targeting this market. However, we believe that the combination of Symbian’s unrivalled product offering, development roadmap, ecosystem and experience in the open mobile market now supplemented with the future support of the Symbian Foundation, Symbian OS should continue to lead the market. We’re pleased with our progress and very excited about pioneering the next wave of mobile innovation.”
