Collaboration between Nokia and Vodafone expands the potential market for S60

"Standardisation of handset software platforms across mobile phone manufacturers offers significant opportunities for Vodafone. We will be able to reduce time to market for new products and services and help customers take up new services more quickly. The fact that Nokia is developing the S60 platform in close co-operation with us further enhances our ability to offer innovative and consistent new services in a competitive and efficient way," said Dirk Wierzbitzki, Deputy Director of Terminals, Vodafone Group.
 
S60 offers Vodafone the leading technologies in customization, extensive support for new mobile services, and the baseline for best in class user experience. S60 customization capabilities, proven by strong track record in satisfying operator needs, help Vodafone to differentiate their services and applications. Together with the S60 community, Vodafone will also be able to enhance user interfaces (UI) of mobile devices.
 
"We are very pleased with Vodafone's choice of S60 as a preferred device software platform. This collaboration is an important step towards increased service differentiation and innovation speed for the whole industry. S60 platform offers a rich application suite, great extensibility and ease-of-use for multimedia, imaging and business services. High priority is given to the customization and application development needs of the operators," said Matti Vänskä, Vice President, Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, Nokia.
 
Nokia and Vodafone will develop a Vodafone-specific software complement on top of the S60 platform. The collaboration also includes the expansion of the licensee base and increased portfolio penetration through open roadmap governance and establishes a strong independent brand position for both the S60 software and the supporting developer activities. In addition, Nokia and Vodafone are working jointly to promote independently licensable reference designs from semiconductor vendors to enable shorter time to market for new S60 devices.
 
According to Nokia estimates, the total smartphone industry volume reached approximately 46.3 million units in 2005, compared to an estimated 20.6 million units in 2004. Nokia alone will have cumulatively shipped more than 50 million S60 enabled devices by the end of February 2006 (Nokia, February 2006).