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BenQ and Symbian sign agreement for Symbian OS smartphones
Taipei, Taiwan & London, UK - 12 February 2003 - BenQ Corporation and Symbian Ltd
announce that BenQ, a leading Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer, has
signed an agreement with Symbian, the creator of Symbian OS™, the global industry
standard open operating system for advanced mobile phones.
The agreement provides BenQ with access to Symbian OS source code and enables BenQ develop Symbian OS phones. BenQ will design and, subject to further agreement, manufacture and
market Symbian OS smartphones for 2.5G and 3G networks worldwide.
BenQ, which shipped 16 million handsets in 2002, selected Symbian OS on the basis
of its strong technology, which has earned Symbian OS its market position as the de
facto industry standard operating system for advanced mobile phones. Using Symbian
OS, BenQ will create innovative and highly differentiated smartphones for customers
worldwide. BenQ's customers will also benefit from developers creating third party
applications and services for Symbian OS phones.
BenQ's first Symbian OS product, anticipated to be available by Q3, 2003, will be a
data-enabled smartphone integrating the UIQ user interface platform. UIQ, developed
by UIQ Technology AB in Ronneby, Sweden, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Symbian
Ltd and is designed to run on Symbian OS. UIQ provides Symbian OS licensees with
an easy to use user interface for large, touch-sensitive colour displays, enabling richer
data services. UIQ's flexibility helps licensees to market a variety of mobile phones
using a common technology base, making it easier to bring Symbian OS feature-rich
mobile phones to market.
Irwin Chen, VP & GM of Networking and Communications Business Group of BenQ
Corporation said: "Symbian OS was developed in partnership with the industry, based
on open standards and has a rapidly growing third party technology and software
developer community. BenQ looks forward to working with Symbian OS in delivering
innovative, differentiated smartphones to worldwide markets."
David Levin, CEO, Symbian Ltd., said: "BenQ has earned a strong reputation in the
consumer electronics hardware industry for the quality and performance of its
products. Symbian is delighted that BenQ is working with Symbian and UIQ to develop
smartphone products for markets and customers worldwide."
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