CTIA: Symbian adds database, location management

LAS VEGAS--To help enable more sophisticated mobile applications, operating system vendor Symbian this week at CTIA added an SQL-based database and a new location-based services architecture to its core mobile OS.

The idea of adding an SQL database – in this case, Symbian SQL, a version of SQL Lite – to a mobile phone would have seemed ludicrous not too long ago. SQL databases are the province of data centers, not devices. But as smartphones have grown to become full application platforms, the need for developers to have large-scale, on-device data handling capabilities have grown accordingly, said Jorgen Behrens, Symbian’s vice president of marketing.

“Technology is flowing into the phone at the high end,” Behrens said in an interview, while showing a phone loaded with the contents of the English language version of Wikipedia, stored in a Symbian SQL database. “Developers increasingly need the ability to manage massive amounts of data on the phone.”

Symbian SQL makes storing, sorting and retrieving terabytes of data and multimedia possible on a mobile device. By basing its mobile database technology on existing standards, Symbian ensures that developers can use standard query language when developing SQL-based mobile apps, Behrens said.

Phones featuring Symbian SQL will launch in the second half of the year, while the database will be available to developers as a download in the second quarter, Behrens said.

Also announced this week is Symbian’s new Location Based Services (LBS) architecture. LBS supports multiple positioning technologies including A-GPS, network-based and WiFi. By taking advantage of LBS, handset manufacturers don’t have to invest in their own location-based technology. At the same time, developers can build location-aware apps that automatically work across the full range of Symbian devices.

Symbian phones with LBS recently shipped in Japan and will be available in Europe later this year.