Richard: So what is Symsource about?

Ian: Symsource is a very interesting company, which is why I joined. In many ways joining was an easy decision as I know everyone there. In fact all the company's current employees have worked for me at some time while I was at Symbian's Software Engineering department.

The company was formed last November. The main driver has been Tim Ocock. Tim is very energetic, has an eclectic business knowledge, as well as technical familiarity with Symbian OS, a very rare combination. He has been joined by Kevin Dixon, Dan Daly and Nick Johnson. Anyone who has dealt with Symbian over the years will recognize the names. These are all very experienced guys, but with skills that focus on messaging, in the broadest sense. Kevin for example was involved in architecting the Symbian OS messaging infrastructure. So there is a huge depth of Symbian OS experience within the company.

So Symsource will be focusing on key the areas of messaging and person to person communications, leveraging 2.5G and 3G network capabilities.

Richard: Surely there is still lots more to do in Symbian, why is Symsource the right move?

Ian: I have always been of the opinion that no one company is capable of creating all the things that make a product successful. Success comes from working in collaboration with others. When I started my career it was in huge projects for organizations like the European Space Agency. I had to find ways for large geographically dispersed teams to collaborate and integrate technologies. I enjoyed working in that environment. Teams that may not even be in the same room working together to create something.

At the time I joined Psion Software, just before they setup Symbian, there was a very strong "not invented here" attitude. It was a small company of about 80 people. My role was to work on changing that culture and creating partnerships to build the OS. I believe I did this quite successfully. Symbian now has over 300 partner companies. I'm proud of that achievement but I believe I can now make best use of my skills outside Symbian.

Symbian has grown to a position where it has strong sales. I believe it is well past the tipping point, with Symbian OS products achieving market success. I think Symbian may even see breakeven in the next 12 months, a great achievement. But I also think this means the sweet spot is now outside Symbian. Symbian's success has changed the view in the market. Raising capital is not as hard and people are ready to listen to your ideas for products and technology. The release of Symbian OS v9 has also helped, as the playing field has been redrawn. Symsource has extensive v9 experience, as we helped put it together, and we have a great catch up opportunity.

So when the opening came to work with the guys at Symsource everything felt right. I could not resist the opportunity to cement Symsource as the go-to place for getting cool technology up and running on the latest Symbian OS devices.

Richard: When you say v9 redraws the playing field what do you mean?

Ian: There are a whole host of new features in v9. For developers to take advantage of it will either require them to consult with others or follow a long learning curve. This is because, unlike the migration of 6 to 7 to 8, where each was really an extension of the previous version, the new platform security architecture changes in v9 will require a strong element of relearning.

Every existing product will need to be reviewed. This will cause a small hiatus in the development of applications. I doubt it will be noticed by the consumer, because products will still be available for existing devices, but it will give an opportunity to new entrants, like ourselves.

Also incumbents in the market have the difficult task of balancing revenue from existing v7 or v8 products and keeping them fresh while developing for v9. We won't have that issue at Symsource.

So we will be building all our product from the ground up to be v9 compliant. With the other v9 changes, to allow devices to be built with a smaller bill of materials and so move further to a mass market, we think the opportunity for our products will be at least an order of magnitude bigger than they are currently.

Richard: Phones always seem to take longer than expected, does this not worry you?

Ian: Symbian has been working on v9 for a long time. I don't see significant delays happening. Even so we have addressed this in two ways. Firstly we have modeled Symsource around a conservative view of the release and sales of v9 devices, Secondly all our products will work on the earlier version of Symbian OS, so will have a market among existing users as soon as they are released.

Richard: Symsource is also offering professional services. Many companies that try to offer products and services often find the balance hard. Consulting creates a good revenue stream while products under development don't. How are you going to balance your activities?

Ian: Clearly professional services is bread and butter work. With the skills of the Symsource team it would be very easy to put them onto this type of work and create a strong short term revenue stream. We certainly don't want to do that, because it would jeopardize the product development. Also a strong professional services focus might grow the company in ways none of us want. We also don't want all our staff out helping others build products at the expense of our own.

So in getting the balance right we are using two simple rules. Firstly we will keep context switching to a minimum, as swapping jobs is so expensive. Secondly, we will look to consultancy work in and around the messaging area and as it gets less messaging orientated we will be less likely to take it on.

We don't want Symsource to become a very large firm, we want to keep it small. As organizations grow it becomes harder for an individual to see how they contribute to the bottom line. For some people that might be hard but for me it's great to see how you make a real contribution.

Richard: Are you saying Symbian has grown too big?

Ian: Symbian has certainly grown to big for me. Very often in large organization there is someone who can see the future and knows what needs to be done to achieve it. In a large organization it takes time for that vision to carry up the organization and get approved. I feel this is one of the huge advantages of smaller companies, the agility they have. This is what Symsource is all about to me.

Richard: So is Symbian becoming slow, losing its agility?

Ian: I certainly don't like to be in a situation where everything needs to be justified in fiscal terms. Business success is not simply a good Excel spreadsheet. There is as much room for gut instinct, betting on the opinion created from information you gather from friends, colleagues and the market.

My interest in Symbian started when I was given a Psion Series 3c as a birthday present. I liked it, phoned Psion and asked for a job. I did everything under the sun in my early role, development, procurement, vendor management and a lot of learning. It was hard work but fun.

I still feel a very strong affinity to Symbian after 7 years. But the company is now 1000 plus people. I didn't know everyone anymore. One of the things I didn't like about this was that I didn't know whether to trust a particular view, it needed to be backed up with second and third opinions. Everything was careful and considered, but I like a higher risk threshold.

The organization has changed, but it had to. Symbian has not grown too big, but it has grown too big for me.

Richard: It must feel strange sitting on the outside after 7 years.

Ian: It does, although I'm still in Symbian's offices regularly, I obviously know less about what is going on. We will be formally launching Symsource at this year's Smartphone Show. I've been to every Symbian developer event since the first, which was in the basement of a London hotel. This year's will be the first where what happens will be a surprise to me. I do know that this year's event will put last year's in the shade. Symbian is doing a really great job of making this the event for anyone who is doing anything in the smartphone business.

Richard: Sounds as thought it will be tough to see everything in two days this year.

Ian: It probably will be, but that is good in many ways, it will mean the participants will need to compete to be seen which will help lift the quality of the presentations. Of course Symsource will be one of the must see participants.

For more information on Symsource see its Web site; www.symsource.com.