Nokia, Intel join forces on Symbian phones

AMSTERDAM/LONDON: Intel and Nokia will jointly develop smart phones that run on the Symbian operating system, the two tech giants said on Tuesday, unveiling their first major cooperative effort in cell phones.

Intel, the world's biggest chip maker, is keen for a major foothold in the cell phone market, and the deal with Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, could put pressure on top makers of mobile phone chips such as Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics.

British mobile software firm Symbian said it would also work with Intel to develop a standard reference design for chips and software for third-generation cell phones, enabling mobile phone manufacturers to create new handsets more quickly for multimedia wireless networks.

Intel currently provides a reference design for mobile phones that run on Microsoft's Windows for Smartphone operating system. Nokia's Series 60 version of the Symbian operating system, however, is much more popular.

The emerging market for smart phones, which can run computer-like applications such as navigation software, business planning software, video and music, is set to grow to as much as 20 million units in 2004, according to market researchers and companies' estimates. The majority of these phones are expected to run on the Symbian operating system.

Symbian, which kicked off its annual developers conference in London on Tuesday, is jointly owned by the world's top mobile phone makers, which are concerned about Microsoft's efforts to enter the handset market.

Intel, the world's biggest maker of microprocessors for personal computers, has targeted the mobile phone market as a major growth opportunity because smart phones need more powerful processors to run advanced applications.

Like Microsoft, however, Intel's position in the cell phone sector is still small.

Most phone producers still work with their long-time chip suppliers, such as Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics and Philips.

Nokia's Series 60 version of Symbian, the main flavor of the Symbian operating system, is used in popular models such as the Nokia 6600, as well as in phones from Siemens and Sendo.

Sony Ericsson uses its own Symbian version, called UIQ, for its P900 smartphone.