ESPOO, Finland, April 4 -- Nokia (NYSE: NOK) today announced the immediate availability of the Open C Plug-In extension for the S60 3rd Edition Software Development Kit (SDK), enabling easier porting of Linux-targeted open source projects to Symbian OS- based S60 smartphones and increased productivity for developers of mobile applications running on S60 devices.

Nokia's Open C significantly improves productivity of S60 developers working in the Symbian C/C++ environment, giving them the use of familiar standard C function libraries for easy migration of open source and desktop applications to S60 on Symbian OS. By enabling the reuse of code from existing open source projects, Open C frees up developer time and resources to focus on the core mobility aspects of their applications.

Available for download at http://www.forum.nokia.com/openc , the Open C SDK Plug-In announced today allows deployment of Open C projects on existing S60 3rd Edition devices, millions of which have already been shipped into the global marketplace. By end-2006, Nokia alone had cumulatively shipped nearly 85 million S60 devices and of the 49 different S60 device models currently in the marketplace, 20 are built on the latest S60 3rd Edition platform.

"By making the Open C SDK Plug-In available, Nokia is helping to greatly broaden the potential pool of developers who will be essential in creating compelling applications for the next generation of smartphone devices," said Lee Epting, vice president, Forum Nokia, Nokia's global developer program. "Because Open C libraries are built on open-source projects, developers who need to design and implement large application bases to run on several operating systems, will now find it easier to write portable code for Symbian OS based devices. The increase in developer productivity from Open C will drive exciting new opportunities for S60 application development."

Open C makes it possible for developers to implement business logic and other core components of an application without having to learn Symbian's proprietary C++ variant. In addition, Open C delivers to developers significant portions of three open source projects - OpenSSL, GNOME, and LIBZ - providing the S60 developer community access to middleware functionality that is shared by many important open source projects, including Apache and Firefox.

"Open C will allow S60 and third party developers to port, with greater ease, a whole range of open source software," said Adam Leach, principal analyst, mobile user experience, Ovum. "Open C will also help S60 licensees address the issue of time-to-market by making porting of existing software assets developed in C for non-Symbian phone projects over to S60 much easier. "

Through its implementation of five additional middleware C libraries and extension of four Unix-compatible, industry standard mobile POSIX libraries on Symbian OS that were recently introduced by Symbian, Open C provides an optimized solution to migrate open source and desktop applications to S60 on Symbian OS.

Open C covers more than 70 percent of the functions contained in the desktop and server projects on which the mobile libraries are based. The implementation includes 100 percent coverage of libraries containing such mobile-critical features as password hashing, compression and loading DLLs, while scaling back coverage in libraries containing features that are less relevant to mobile applications development.

Key features of the Open C SDK Plug-In for S60 3rd Edition now available include:
- Headers and libraries of the C libraries (ARMv5, GCCE, WINSW);
- Emulator DLLs;
- Signed SIS package for installing Open C libraries to device;
- Open C API documentation;
- Open C example applications; and,
- libglib sources and LGPL license text file.

Additional information and download of Nokia's Open C SDK Plug-In for S60 3rd Edition is available online at: http://www.forum.nokia.com/openc

About S60

S60 software built on Symbian OS is the world's leading smartphone software, and is licensed by some of the industry's foremost mobile device manufacturers. The flexibility of the S60 software allows for various hardware designs and software configurations, as evidenced by the multitude of S60 devices already available on the market. Through its award-winning user interface, extensive support for new mobile services and the innovation potential for partner solutions, S60 provides an open and scalable business opportunity for mobile operators and 3rd party developers. For further information and news about S60 and the S60 community, please visit http://www.s60.com

About Forum Nokia

Nokia's global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at http://www.forum.nokia.com

About Nokia

Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations. http://www.nokia.com