14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia and Vodafone announced recently a significant milestone in their collaboration on the development of S60 software on Symbian OS, with the release of the first Vodafone specific software package to all S60 licensees.
The S60 platform and the Vodafone specific software offer an integrated reference implementation that enables Vodafone to roll out innovative new services to customers across a range of different handsets without having to develop a range of different software designs. Samsung and Nokia are expected to be the first handset vendors to ship devices incorporating this software in 2007.
"Vodafone's customers will benefit as we are able to get our services out faster and more cost-effectively on a wide range of devices from several handset brands. Handset vendors will benefit from saving development costs while maintaining the ability to differentiate on additional functionality and industrial design," said Jens Schulte-Bockum, Vodafone's Global Director of Terminals.
"We are thrilled to work with Vodafone and Nokia in introducing leading-edge smartphones to European customers. I'm very proud to introduce SGH-i520, which will be our first model built on S60 with all of the latest multimedia features and high speed data connectivity (HSDPA). It is very exciting to lead the trend towards open mobile software platforms with these leading brands. Starting with i520, we will introduce further enhanced lineup based on S60 with Samsung's differentiated multimedia features," said Chul-hwan Lee, Senior Vice President of Mobile R&D Team, Samsung Electronics. Samsung's SGH-i520 will be available to Vodafone customers during the first quarter of this year.
The collaboration between Vodafone, S60 and selected handset vendors also covers joint marketing activities aimed at Vodafone's customers.