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51.7m Symbian smartphones shipped in 2006
3GSM World Congress, BARCELONA, Spain and LONDON, United Kingdom - 13 February 2007 - Symbian Limited, developer and licensor of Symbian OSâ?¢, the market-leading operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones known as smartphones, today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for both Q4 2006 and the full year ended 31 December 2006.
Symbian Limited Q4 2006 results
Unaudited Financial and Operational Highlights
| Â | Q4Â 2006 | Q4 2005 | Q3Â 2006 | Â | |
| Symbian OS Units | 14.6m | 10.9m | 13.0m | Â | |
| Average Royalty / Unit * | US$5.1 | US$5.2 | US$5.2 | Â | |
| Royalty GP% *Â | 93% | 86% | 93% | Â | |
| Revenue (£â??m) | £'m | £'m | £m |  | |
| Royalties * | 40.4 | 30.7 | 37.3 | Â | |
| Consulting Services | 3.5 | 2.9 | 2.3 | Â | |
| Partnering & Other | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 | Â | |
| Total | 44.9Â | 34.6Â | 40.3 | Â | |
| Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
| Â | End Q4 2006 | End Q3 2006 | End Q4 2005 | Q4YoYÂ Â Â % change | |
| Number of Symbian smartphone models in the market | 108 | 106 | 60 | +80% | |
| Number of licensees with Symbian smartphones in the market | 9 | 10 | 10 | Â | |
| Number of Symbian smartphone models in development | 56 | 49 | 58 | Â | |
| Number of licensees with Symbian smartphones in development | 8 | 8 | 9 | Â | |
| * Royalties comprise Symbian OS & UIQ | |||||
Symbian Limited Q4 2006 results
Unaudited Financial and Operational Highlights
| Â | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 |
| Symbian OS Units | 51.7m | 34.0m | 14.4m | 6.7m |
| Average Royalty / Unit * | US$5.30 | US$5.14 | US$5.72 | US$6.24 |
| Royalty GP% *Â | 91% | 85% | 84% | 84% |
| Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
| Revenue (壉??m) | 壉??m | 壉??m | 壉??m | 壉??m |
| Royalties * | 151.1 | 96.1 | 45.2 | 25.5 |
| Consulting Services | 10.7 | 14.8 | 17.5 | 17.1 |
| Partnering & Other | 3.4 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 2.8 |
| Total | 165.2 | 114.8 | 66.5 | 45.4 |
Highlights - Full year 2006
- 51.7 million Symbian smartphones shipped to consumers worldwide in 2006 - a 52% increase on 2005 (2005: 34.0m)
- 108 Symbian smartphone models shipping from 9 licensees through over 250 major network operators worldwide at 31 December 2006 (2005: 60 models) - an 80% increase on 2005
- 65 new Symbian smartphones models commenced shipment in 2006 (2005: 36), 38 (58%) of these models were based on Symbian OS v9, 34 (53%) for use on W-CDMA (3G) networks in Japan and Europe, 19 (29%) Wi-Fi enabled
- 110 million cumulative Symbian smartphone shipments since the formation of Symbian to 31 December 2006
- Symbian announced Symbian OS v9.3 optimized for convergence and market segmentation with performance and feature enhancements, which will begin shipping in devices in 2007
Highlights - Q4 2006
- 14.6 million Symbian smartphones shipped by licensees in Q4 2006 - a 34% increase on Q4 2005 (Q4 2005 - 10.9m)
- In Q4 2006, Symbian OS was used in products in many segments and geographical markets - for example: Nokia E50, Sony Ericsson P990c and Sony Ericsson Walkman W958c in China; Sony Ericsson Walkman W950i, Nokia E61 and Nokia N92 in Europe as well as several NTT DoCoMoâ?¢ devices for the Japanese market such as FOMAâ?¢ SO903i manufactured by Sony Ericsson, FOMA SH903i manufactured by Sharp, FOMA F903i manufactured by Fujitsu and FOMA D903i manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric
- New Symbian OS v9 models announced in Q4 2006 but not shipping as of the end of 2006, include the Samsung SGH-i520, LG JoY and Nokia 6290
- 6,896 third party Symbian applications are now commercially available, a 50% increase on 31 December 2005 (4,588 applications) (Source: Symbian research, see Notes to Editors)
Chief Executive Commentary
Nigel Clifford, Chief Executive Officer, Symbian Ltd today said:
"I am pleased to report that Symbian continued its strong progress throughout 2006, with licensees shipping a total of 51.7 million Symbian smartphones in 2006. During Q4, Symbian's revenues grew to £44.9 million - an increase of 30% on Q4 2005. The growth in revenues was due to increased unit shipments and the effects of our new pricing structures which came into effect on 1 July 2006.
Mass market volumes
The smartphone converged device is a proven phenomenon. With a cumulative total of 110 million Symbian smartphones now shipped, over 50m in the last 12 months, the majority of which are 3G devices, Symbian represents a large installed base of differentiated smartphones in different regions and segments.
Recently, Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canalys said, "With the rapid increase in demand for new features and services, smartphones are migrating into the higher volume, mid-range market segments. Symbian accessed this market successfully in 2006 and increased its volume of smartphones selling at mid-range prices. In Q406 4.5 million Symbian smartphones shipped at mid-range price points, an 86% share of the mid-range smartphone market ."
Over the last 12 months, Symbian has announced a number of initiatives to assist licensees to continue the growth of smartphone volumes - a new pricing structure; the Freescale single chip reference design for 3G; and product features which enable the use of lower-end hardware to reduce device build cost. In addition Symbian announced the sale of our UIQ Technology subsidiary to Sony Ericsson which we believe will be positive for the Symbian marketplace overall.
Optimized for convergence and market segmentation
With the range of devices from different licensees, the opportunity to differentiate and target various segments of consumers, Symbian is the natural choice for leading Internet service and media brands to offer a great service experience on Symbian OS.
In Q4 2006 new, feature-rich Symbian smartphones commenced shipping in several different market segments including business, music and mobile TV. The Nokia N92 is the world's first mobile with a built-in DVB-H tuner. The four FOMA 903i series, which commenced shipping by NTT DoCoMo, all contain GPS capabilities for innovative location based services. The Sony Ericsson Walkman W950i is a 4GB, touchscreen, 3G music phone.
Symbian welcomed the launch in the UK of the X-series from mobile operator 3, offering Sling Player, Google, Orb, eBay, Skype, MSN and Yahoo! first on two Symbian smartphones: the Nokia N73 based on S60 and the Sony Ericsson W950i based on UIQ.
Broadening Symbian developer community
Over the last 12 months Symbian has continued to improve the development experience on Symbian smartphones through products, programs and services such as the launch of the new Symbian Developer Network (Developer.symbian.com), mainstream tools (Carbide.c++/Eclipse), new Symbian Affiliate Partners, the Symbian Academy and Accredited Symbian Developer program. A survey undertaken with Yankee Group in July 2006 indicated that on average around 58% of Symbian smartphone users had downloaded and installed an application.
With the recent announcement of P.I.P.S (P.I.P.S is POSIX on Symbian OS), Symbian is also committed in the long-term to bringing the volumes of desktop developers and applications to mobile. P.I.P.S will help improve developer productivity by enabling C programmers to more easily migrate existing middleware and applications, either commercial or open source, to Symbian OS.
Symbian Outlook
According to IDC, the smartphone market is expected to rise to around 250 million units by the end of 2010. As smartphones enter the mid-range, the Symbian OS product roadmap addresses the elements critical for success in the era of convergence.
This is just the beginning of a new technology revolution which will profoundly change people's lives. I am looking forward in 2007 to the growth in take-up of mobile Internet services, location based services, music, VoIP and Mobile TV. Openness, the momentum of the ecosystem, the prevalence of high speed networks and the increasing adoption of predictable usage pricing are all key drivers accelerating the adoption of advanced devices and advanced services. I look to the future with confidence that our market will continue to expand and that Symbian will play a key role in this market expansion. "
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- Ends -
Notes to Editors
- 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. From v9.0 onwards after 1 July 2006, licensees are being offered an additional pricing model based on either (a) a fraction of the trade price of devices shipping; or (b) an annual volume ratchet pricing structure.
Symbian also receives additional royalty revenue for devices shipping with the UIQ software developed by Symbian's wholly-owned subsidiary, UIQ Technology AB. On 7 November 2006 it was announced that UIQ Technology AB will be sold. This sale had not completed by 31 December 2006 and therefore the 2006 results include a full year of revenues and costs of UIQ Technology AB.
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 receives revenue to cover costs (including full overhead recovery) 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 Centers 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. 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, new models in development is becoming a less accurate forward looking indicator of new Symbian licensee models coming to market.Â
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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 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.
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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 2006, 51.7 million Symbian smartphones were sold worldwide to over 250 major network operators, bringing the total number of Symbian smartphones shipped up to 31 December 2006 to 110 million.
Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom, with offices in the United States, England, and Asia (India, P.R. China, Korea, and Japan). For more information, please visit Symbian
Media Enquiries
| Anatolie Papas Global PR Manager Symbian Ltd +44 20 7154 1383 press@symbian.com | Â |
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