Nokia to license software and components to rivals

LAS VEGAS--Nokia today announced plans to license separate terminal client components and a newly developed “smartphone” software platform to rival mobile handset manufacturers. The announcement came during Comdex, the information-technology trade show.

The terminal client components will include MMS and SMS clients, a WAP/XHTML browser and a SyncML-based synchronization engine. The Series 60 software platform is designed for the Symbian operating system and supports mobile browsing, multimedia messaging and content downloading. Both the terminal components and the Series 60 will be available as source-code products, which will allow licensees to modify them.

Driving the decision to license its software and components is Nokia’s desire to join 17 other wireless carriers and vendors in an industrywide initiative designed to create a “global and open mobile software and services market.” In addition to Nokia, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, MM02, NTT DoCoMo, Telefonica Noviles, Vodafone, Fujitsu, Matushita, Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, NEC, Samsung, Sharp, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Symbian have joined the effort.

According to Pertii Korhonen, Nokia’s senior vice president-mobile software, the “key objective is to deliver to the end user freedom of choice … and to foster an ecosystem where innovation takes place through open competition.”

Wireless service providers and vendors have achieved voice interoperability, but they have fallen well short of that goal when it comes to advanced services, said Korhonen. The key to future industry growth is to eliminate the interoperability hurdle that has limited the rollout of “much richer” messaging media.

“Today, we have very limited text messaging, and it’s safe to say we’ve only scratched the surface of the opportunity,” he said. “When we create the proper platform, the sky is the limit in terms of innovation.”

Nokia has created a separate business unit--Nokia Mobile Software--to manage the licensing effort. Niklas Savender, vice president of Nokia Mobile Software stressed that the formation of the unit is not an indicator that Nokia’s fundamental business model is changing.

“The company’s focus is still on making the best mobile phones and networks in the world,” he said. “We are simply licensing our core technologies … to drive industry growth. It’s better to have 30%-40% of a much bigger market than 40%-50% of a smaller market.”