2004 was a great year for Symbian where2004 full year shipments of phones based on Symbian OS totalled 14.38m. As at December 31st 2004, 41 phones from 8 Symbian OS licensees were shipping to more than 200 network operators around the world.(Source: Symbian Ltd.). Kicking off 2005, Malware and mobile anti virus were in the news and the mainstream media did a fine job of jumping on the bandwagon and trying to scare people into reading their articles about how malware was infecting the global mobile user community... in reality it was pretty much agreed upon that users need to act responsibly and practice safe mobile computing in order to stay safe... none-the-less, some fine mobile anti virus solutions came to market in 05. (for example, see simworks). Symbian OS news and developments were interesting and plentiful during 2005... read on as we review the news from 2005.

Read on...

January 2005

To start things off in 2005 we looked back at 2004 and selected the key events and technologies that have shaped the Symbian OS ecosystem (See 2004, the Symbian OS year in review). In January 2005 UIQ Technology and ACCESS Co., Ltd. announced that they had partnered to offer ACCESS' advanced NetFront(TM) browser technology to the global UIQ community. Widely recognized as one of the most advanced and successful full Internet browser solutions in the mobile market, NetFront offers a comprehensive feature-set including support for WAP 2.0, WML, HTML 4.01, and cHTML. Also in the news, WildPalm introduced new software for SonyEricsson's P800/P900/P910 devices. Neomedia introduced the latest 'Go Window' for Nokia Series 60 devices. Go Window is a horizontal text-entry bar on the screen of a SmartPhone where users can enter PaperClick-registered words, phrases or numeric strings from UPC or other barcodes and link directly to targeted online information. We also saw the introduction of PowerFile for Series 80 - file management for Nokia 9500 with all bells and whistles!

For the latter part of January we saw Series 60 malware very much in the news with several new variants being "discovered". While malware is a problem with serious consequences that is very different from it being a serious problem. Much of the press was (and still is) using scare tactics which implied that this was a huge and scary problem while failing to point out that there is no silent transmission method... the solution that they need to focus on is that the user needs to be smart and practice safe and smart mobile computing. On the software front we completed a major review of MDMs Quickoffice version 3. There have been significant updates to the Quickword and Quickpoint applications. Word and PowerPoint files edited in Quickoffice can now be returned to a PC without any content brakes, making Quickoffice a genuine road warriors tool. We also took a look at Mobility Electronics Pitch Duo which is a great presentation tool. Looking ahead in the year, QuickOffice would go on to be named the Forum Nokia Developer of the Year!!!

Other notable news:
January kicked off with a slashdot rumor about the Samsung D720. Decuma became the first company to join the UIQ Alliance program - The UIQ Alliance Partner Program provides an increased choice of UIQ compatible technologies and knowledge that will be introduced to UIQ customers. The Series 60 Challenge promoted via series60.com, sponsored by Nokia, Sendo, Siemens and Symbian, generated 138 registrations in total from all over the world and the finalists were announced in mid-January. Finally, at the end of January Nokia announced the availability of Python for Series 60. Available for free download via the website of Nokia's global developer community, Forum Nokia (www.forum.nokia.com/python), Python for Series 60 is a software package that installs to a Series 60 platform-based device, enabling developers to create applications with the simple and consistent, object-oriented Python programming language.

Software announcements include:

• Neomedia's GoWindows for S60
• Pocket painter for UIQ from Aidem Systems
• Epocware/Paragon Software Group releases new dictionaries SlovoEd for Nokia 9500 communicator
• Webraska announced the availability of SmartZone Navigation for series 60

February 2005

In February we were treated with the release of the Symbian OS v9. Billed as a robust, secure, open and standards-based platform,Symbian OS v9 supports Bluetooth stereo headsets, USB mass storage, advanced audio mixing and playback, as well as the latest MPEG and OMA DRM standards, providing the next-generation mobile OS enabling media-rich, converged devices supporting feature-rich, robust applications. Nokia introduced developers to the new edition of the Series 60 Platform... aka. S60 3rd Edition. The Series 60 3rd Edition's new features focus on enhanced multimedia and enterprise functionality, sustainable application business support, state-of-the-art customization enablers and improved platform architecture. See more info at http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1492/97/ and http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1488/97/. In a related announcement, Nokia announced in Febrary that the Preminet Solution From Nokia would be adding content Offering From leading publisher Jamba! (See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1456/108/). Also from Nokia during February was the news of shipping the Nokia 7710 began in Africa and Europe (http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1439/108/)

February was of course time for GSM, also, Nokia made the announcement that Jamba! was to be a key content provider through Nokia's Preminet Solution. Much todo was also made that month about Symbian OS 9. From our own Richard Bloor... "Symbian OS v9 clearly offers developers many benefits"... this was reiterated in a very popular feature we published "Symbian OS v9 - New Opportunities, New Challenges". In parallel with the announcement of Symbian OS v9, Symbian announced that a wide range of standards-based tools designed to facilitate the development of phones and applications based on Symbian OS v9. . Finally, a total of Seven new Symbian OS devices were officially announced at 3GSM by Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung and . Most noteworthy was the Leveno P930, the first Series 60 phone with a touch screen. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1547/97/. For more from 3GSM 2005 see the 3GSM news archive at http://www.symbianone.com/content/category/1/134/97/

In February 2005 Forum Nokia Pro celebrated their first anniversary. We took a look at year one HERE. All together 350 companies were accepted into the program in the first year, 55% of which are engaged in Enterprise development with an equal number involved in building Personal Productivity applications. More than 2,400 companies applied for membership during the year. Demand was so heavy that in order to maintain the quality of the members, there was a Euro 1,000 price increase implemented for the second year. At the same time that the PRO program was taking off, the general Forum Nokia community hds continued to grow and as of February stood at 2 million registrants.

News of interest to developers that month...CodeWarrior Development Studio for Symbian OS Version 3.0 (http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1418/97/)was added to the Symbian OS-based portfolio of development tools from Forum Nokia. Python for Series 60 was also made available for free download, Python for Series 60 is a software package that installs to a Series 60 platform-based device, enabling developers to create applications with the simple and consistent, object-oriented Python programming language. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1406/97/.

Finally, in yet another apparently poorly researched analysis of Symbian OS, Gartner gave the thumbs down to Symbian OS v9 for enterprise use. In an online rebuttal, SymbianOne evangelist Richard Bloor responded accordingly! See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1432/31/

New Software included:

• WildPalm's Earth Explorer for Nokia Series 60
• AppGate Network Security for Sony Ericsson P900/910
• Bitween Remote Control 2.0 for Nokia 9500

March 2005

In March we continued with additional focus on the series 60 3rd Edition. Our spotlight "late night reading about Series 60"provided even more information and pointers to useful resources focused on the latest release - See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1559/31/. Location-based services came on relatively strong in 2005 and we saw ROUTE 66 who developed "ROUTE 66 Mobile 2006 - Symbian UIQ - the first on-board navigation kit for Symbian UIQ mobile phones and for mobile people - See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1580/97/. During the CeBIT 2005 show, Nokia reinforced its vision of mobility with its latest innovations for 3G WCDMA, multimedia and enterprise. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1583/97/. Taking pictures with your mobile phone was no longer confined to what is visible through the view finder on the phone. Sony Ericsson's new Bluetooth controlled camera, ROB-1, can move around freely, steered wirelessly by the joy-stick or keypad on your mobile phone or as for P900/P910 with the touch screen, enabling you to see on your phone screen exactly what ROB-1 is looking at. Introduced at CeBIT, ROB-1 proved to be another fun and innovative 'first' for Bluetooth technology - See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1594/97/. More Malware news as Symbian anti-virus specialist SimWorks announced that it has identified the first Symbian virus capable of spreading itself via MMS messages. Using MMS the CommWarrior.a virus, as SimWorks have named it, can instantaneously send itself to any mobile phone in the world. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1575/97/. March will also be remembered as when news that Nokia would start shipping the long anticipated 6680 smartphone... Optimized for visual sharing, the Nokia 6680 imaging smartphone boasts a wide array of features including two integrated cameras, a flash, the Nokia XpressPrint printing solution, an active slide for easy camera activation and a bright screen of up to 262,144 colors (http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1629/108/).

From SymbianOne that month, we looked at how UIQ Technology have two programs that get third party developers closely involved with UIQ, UIQ Selected and UIQ Alliance. We spoke with Elisabet Melin UIQ Technology's VP Marketing to find out why the two programs were necessary and how they differed. See UIQ Selected or UIQ Alliance - What's In A Name? Application reviews... A day on the road leave you all confused? Need to sort out your thoughts, write a paper or prepare a presentation? Corisoft's SuperTree, for the Nokia Communicator range, could be just what you need. We looked at SuperTree - See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1569/.

During March SymbianOne was on the road in New Orleans, LA attending the annual CTIA trade show. We managed to catch up with several developers for some special one-on-one demonstrations (We saw some great solutions from BVRP, Zi Corp, Melodeo, and M-Systems See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1625/) and we also took in the Forum Nokia Pro developer showcase (a cozy semi-formal session with some 80 developers on hand) as well as the Navteq Location Based services Challenge. Check out our CTIA feature at- Gumbo and Mobile applications on hand as Forum Nokia PRO Developers showcased at CTIA. At the LBS Challenge, out of a field of some 180 companies 6 innovative applications were singled out for excellence and recognized as winning apps, meeting the criteria of superior usability and utility. We were pleased to have been in attendance once again this year as Location-Based solutions take center stage. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1627/. More information can be found in our LBS Challenge roundup. Finally, Canada's Zi Corporation have designs on your text. Designs to get text into your hand held or smartphone easily and efficiently, regardless of input method. SymbianOne spoke to Milos Djokovic Zi Corporation's Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer just before CTIA. See the Q&A Here.

checking out the Nokia Communicator

Big news in March

• Symbian licenses Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Protocol for Symbian OS -
• Tele2 Tango launches Tango Snap: A Cognima-Powered Photo Sharing Service For Camera-Phones
• Nokia 6680 3G imaging smartphone starts shipping
  

April 2005

After a flurry of interest around the licensing of ActiveSync from Microsoft the Symbian news once again was dominated by items about malware for Series 60. Just in case all the talk of viruses, trojans and worms left you uneasy, we encouraged readers to see our simple guide to staving off an attack: Protecting Your Symbian OS Smartphone From Malware.

Orative launched its Enterprise Solution in the US in April and we caught up with John Drewry, Orative's VP marketing - details at http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1654/. Later that month we offered up a Review of Zi Corporation's Navigation And Text Tools. Zi Corporation's text entry and Qix service discovery solutions promised to make your smartphone easier to use. Check out what we came up withat http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1648/. We then looked at Project Professional, an application which used the Sony Ericsson P910i's Java support for project management. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1727/

Nokia buys CodeWarrior - Strengthening Symbian OS Support. SymbianOne caught up Markus Ahonen Nokia's Product Manager for CodeWarrior to see how the transition had gone and find out more about where CodeWarrior for Symbian OS is going.

• Appforge Announced The Availability Of Crossfire 5.6
• DataViz Licenses Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Protocol to Integrate with RoadSync
• NoviiRemote for Nokia 6600 & 6620 was announced

May 2006

May was a huge month for the Symbian OS as Nokia officially announced the Nokia's Nseries. Packed with the latest technologies such as 3G, Carl Zeiss Optics, megapixel cameras, multi-gigabyte memory, VHS resolution video and WLAN, the Nokia Nseries offers new fusions of digital media and mobility to the hands of mobile users. We saw the introduction of the N90 - the world's first camera phone equipped with Carl Zeiss optics; the Nokia N91 optimized for music enabling users to store up to 3000 songs; and the Nokia N70 multimedia, the world's smallest Series 60 based 3G WCDMA device with a 2 megapixel camera. We rounded up the Nokia announcements and look at what Nseries means. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1754/

Nokia's N92 - The Nokia N92 provides a rich range of connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, infrared, Bluetooth wireless technology as well as USB 2.0 (Mass Storage Class), which allows users to connect the Nokia N92 directly to a compatible PC for quick and convenient file transfers or downloads.

With the announcement of the first Series 60 3rd Edition phone we thought it worth while catching up with developments in Series 60. So we spoke with Mikko Rontynen, Senior Product Marketing Manager for the Series 60 Platform, with Nokia Technology Platforms. http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1781/

We spoke with Ewan Spence, the author behind Rapid Mobile Enterprise Development for Symbian OS. Despite its title this book was about making OPL accessible. See http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/1712/

Other notable Symbian news in May:

• Yahoo! goes mobile on Nokia smartphones
• Penrillian have released a major update to SymbianOSUnit
• Global smart mobile device sales surge past 10 million in quarter
• Now You Can Make VoIP Calls on Your Nokia Phone
• Nokia Application Developer Population Surges
• Nokia 6680: 'Best in Class' 3G WCDMA device
• Symbian Records 180% Shipment Growth
• DataViz's Award-Winning Documents To Go Now Available for Sony Ericsson P800, P900 and P910 Devices
• M-Systems 512 Megabyte and 1 Gigabyte DiskOnChip h4 Storage Solution Now Available

Stay tuned as our 2005 Symbian OS Year-In-Review continues...