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Symbian Communicator phones could ship this year
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HANOVER, Germany (IDG) -- Symbian Wednesday demonstrated Web-browser, e-mail and contact management software for next-generation mobile phones -- and predicted that products based on the software could be on the market before the end of this year.
The software, code-named Quartz, is designed for pen-based wireless communication devices known as communicators, and will be demonstrated to the public for the first time here at the CeBIT exhibition this week, Symbian Chief Executive Officer Colly Myers said in a press conference Wedensday.
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Quartz is the first of three new designs for wireless information devices that the company is working on. It is targeting three families of devices: smart phones, wireless communicators and large-screen devices with keyboards, and Symbian is developing a "device family reference design" for each format.
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Symbian has licensed its software to a number of companies. Two of these, Psion and Motorola, are jointly planning to launch a device based on the Quartz design in the first half of next year, Psion CEO David Levin said at the press conference.
But while Motorola and Psion are the only ones to offer launch dates, they may not be the first to market. Competitors could be planning earlier launches, said Juha Christensen, executive vice president of Symbian. "We know other licensees are."
He said the software would ship to product manufacturers "in the middle of this year, and it's possible for someone to have a product on the GSM market this year." But, he cautioned, "That doesn't mean someone necessarily will."
Ericsson Mobile Communications, another licensee, is in no hurry to launch.
"Maturity is more important than to be very early," said …rjan Mattsson, director and general manager for communicators and smart phones for Ericsson. "We are committed to introducing a product based on Quartz," he said, "But we have not decided when we should do it."
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