Released on = May 31, 2006, 1:28 am

Press Release Author = Eugene Kovalik

Industry = Telecommunications

Press Release Summary = Perspectives of Wireless Marketing Wars - Who will Be the
Winner?

Press Release Body = Can Symbian BREW BlackBerry?

Perspectives of Wireless Marketing Wars - Who will Be the Winner?




According to the research held by analytics company Canalys the market of "smart"
mobile devices in Europe, Near East and Africa grows more rapidly than market of
mobile phones. Within the first half of 2005 9.6 million of smartphones and PDAs
were sold compared to 3.6 million during the same period of the previous year. Such
trend is observed worldwide - almost 70 million full feature handsets are sold
worldwide. According to analysts the two main processes in progress stipulate such
growth at the moment. On the one hand, ordinary users interchange their old
smartphones and PDAs to newer ones. On the other hand, there is an upsurge in
interest in mobile E-mail and extended abilities of smart mobile devices from
companies and corporations.

Modern smart mobile systems are to be: always available (small sized / handy),
always On (optimized memory usage, minimal battery use), extensible (new software
can be added if necessary), affordable, and of various form factors. Moreover, a
smart mobile device should combine the maximum of mobile technologies available at
the moment: GPS, VoIP, Bluetooth, IrDa, GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi, mobile E-mail, support of
HTTP protocol, MP3 etc. This is a vast domain for competition among manufacturers
of operation systems for smartphones and PDAs.

There are several very large players in this market: Symbian OS, BREW OS, Blackberry
OS, Windows Mobile OS and Palm OS etc.

Experts' Area
Ulf Morys, General Manager at Gameloft GmbH:

" - Symbian: more important in the future, but still niche market (Nokia market
share ca. 33 % overall; not more than 1/3 of this Symbian phones & some other
Symbian phones). Overall optimistic estimate: ca. 10 % of total newly sold phone
base.
- BlackBerry: interesting for business / productivity applications; no mass market.
- WindowsCE: difficult to judge. Microsoft will keep pushing it's platform, but
results were often unsatisfactory in the past; make sure that the partners can
actually bill for applications delivered to this platform. We've seen problems
with this.
- BREW: real mass market potential in US and Chinese market, not very relevant for
European market."




SYMBIAN



SYMBIAN - is a software licensing company that develops and supplies the advanced,
open, standard operating system - Symbian OS - for data-enabled mobile phones and
PDAs.

As of September 2005 60 phones that run under Symbian OS from eight manufacturers
are shipped worldwide and a further 56 phones from eleven manufacturers (among them
Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, BenQ and Motorola) were in
development. Symbian OS is an undisputed sales leader in Europe and has a strong
market share in other countries. Currently Symbian's market share is 55.9 per cent
from worldwide sales (according to IDC analytics company), at that 82 per cent of
devices were manufactured by Nokia (in whole since 2005 beginning there were sold
approximately 34 million data enabled devices with Symbian OS on board).

Experts' Area

Philip Solis, ABI Research senior analyst, author of the study "Smartphones: The
Market for Smartphones and Smartphone Operating Systems":

"Symbian's chief advantages are that it is easy to build applications for, and that
it has a large developer community. Disadvantages are that Symbian is primarily
limited to Nokia handsets, and its market is concentrated in "GSM-heavy" regions."


19 of 60 devices with Symbian OS support WCDMA. By the way, smartphone Nokia 6680
is recognized a 3G world bestseller telephone.


Key features of Symbian OS

Rich suite of application engines - the suite includes engines for contacts,
schedule, messaging, browsing, utility and system control; OBEX for exchanging
objects such as appointments (using vCalendar) and business cards (vCard);
integrated APIs for data management, text, clipboard and graphics
Browsing - supports WAP 1.2.1 for mobile browsing
Messaging - multimedia messaging (MMS), enhanced messaging (EMS) and SMS; internet
mail using POP3, IMAP4, SMTP and MHTML; attachments; fax
Multimedia - audio and video support for recording, playback and streaming; image
conversion
Graphics - direct access to screen and keyboard for high performance; graphics
accelerator API
Communications protocols - wide-area networking stacks including TCP/IP (dual mode
IPv4/v6) and WAP, personal area networking support include infrared (IrDA),
Bluetooth® wireless technology and USB; support is also provided for multihoming
capabilities and link layer Quality-of-Service (QoS) on GPRS/UMTS networks
Mobile telephony - Symbian OS is ready for the 3G market with support for GSM
circuit switched voice and data (CSD and EDGE ECSD) and packet-based data (GPRS and
EDGE EGPRS); CDMA circuit switched voice, data and packet-based data (IS-95,
cdma2000 1x, and WCDMA); SIM, RUIM and UICC Toolkit; other standards can be
implemented by licensees through extensible APIs of the telephony subsystem
International support - conforms to Unicode Standard version 3.0
Data synchronization - over-the-air (OTA) synchronization support using SyncML;
PC-based synchronization over serial, Bluetooth® wireless technology, Infrared and
USB; a PC Connectivity framework providing the ability to transfer files and
synchronize PIM data
Security - full encryption and certificate management, secure protocols (HTTPS, WTLS
and SSL and TLS), WIM framework and certificate-based application installation
Developing for Symbian OS - content development options include: C++, Java (J2ME)
MIDP 2.0 and PersonalJava 1.1.1a (with JavaPhone 1.0 option), and WAP; tools are
available for building C++ and Java applications and ROMs with support for on-target
debugging
User Inputs - generic input mechanism supporting full keyboard, 0-9*# (numeric
mobile phone keypad), voice, handwriting recognition and predictive text input.

BREW



BREW - Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless is a combination OS, application
platform, and marketing system. BREW started with QUALCOMM-based CDMA chipsets and
technology - a vast market - but BREW is independent of the wireless technology
utilized by a particular handset or network and can support other wireless
technologies. Ideally, BREW can work with any device, and Qualcomm is planning to
port it to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Qualcomm is trying to
remove the gap between GSM and CDMA operators. As CDMA strengthened hand, the GSM
lobby propped its own version of CDMA which they named WCDMA (Wideband CDMA). WCDMA
has been launched in a group of countries (80 operators in 29 countries), and many
more are gearing to launch it within this year, it is already successfully running
in countries like Korea, Japan, China, India, Brazil and in some parts of North
America.

So far prevalent in the CDMA domain, BREW is gradually transiting to the GSM bastion
of Europe as the continent\'s operators introduce 3G services based on WCDMA (by the
end of year 2005 the number of WCDMA networks users worldwide increased by 2,6 times
compared to December 31, 2004 and reached 43,81 million users). Such a scenario
could make Qualcomm a worldwide flag carrier in mobile market. In all, 40 commercial
BREW device manufacturers (Audiovox, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, BenQ
etc.) offer over 135 BREW-enabled devices - as of January, 2006 according to
Qualcomm. Almost 10% of all handsets shipped worldwide are BREW compatible and the
number of application downloads (May 2005) exceeds 300 million. The success of BREW
has been built on CDMA platforms of major mobile operators, including Verizon
Wireless, China Unicom, Telstra and KDDI.

Regardless of platform, BREW requires little memory (150KB), which makes BREW
applications workable even on low-end phones.

BREW provides basic capabilities for such advanced services as GPS, VoIP, Bluetooth
1.1, MP3 and MIDI support, video recording and playback, multimedia streaming,
e-mail. The set of BREW services includes communication capabilities of TCP/UDP
sockets, HTTP protocol support, SMS-MMS services, extended telephony capabilities.
BREW supports several programming languages including Java, and via extensions BREW
understands C/C++, interactive animation Flash and XML.

The Wall Street Journal paralleled BREW with Microsoft Windows in wireless
communication domain.

Experts' Area

Victoria Alexandrova, Project Manager, PDA applications Department of QArea Company:
"Who I see a winner? Symbian, of course. It is convenient, applicable, multi
functional and easy for understanding. However, if I were in the USA I definitely
would rather use BlackBerry, since they provide top quality service."

BLACKBERRY



BLACKBERRY - is a proprietary operating system, provided by RIM (Research in Motion,
Canada), for the BlackBerry devices and BlackBerry enabled devices (BlackBerry email
is already on a few handsets including Siemens SK65, Nokia 6820/6822, Motorola
MPx220). BlackBerry is one of the leading wireless solutions, which allows users to
stay connected with wireless access to email, corporate data, phone, web and
organizer features. The true power of BlackBerry is mailbox integration.
BlackBerry can integrate seamlessly with a user\'s existing corporate or personal
email account providing a wireless extension of their regular e-mailbox.

The first BlackBerry was released in early 1999. The first BlackBerry with
integrated cell phone, as well as the first BlackBerry sold outside of North America
was released in 2001, using the European GSM/GPRS standard. RIM at the moment has a
very dominant position in the mobile email market. BlackBerry is used worldwide,
available from 95 wireless carriers in 40 countries. In November 2004, RIM
announced the number of subscribers to the BlackBerry service to have reached two
million, having doubled within ten months. Proceeding their steady growth, RIM
announced an additional one million subscribers in May 2005, only six months after
having reached two million.

Experts' Area

Rudy de Waele, CEO at Random One (R1):

"The market is going more Symbian due to the strategic moves Symbian did with S60
platform, delivering Symbian to various devices of different brand manufacturers and
Nokia's latest partnership with Vodafone to increase the use of S60 as a standard
software platform.
Windows Mobile is going to catch up bit by bit, they have the market advantage in US
and they can benefit from the Microsoft PC/Mobile synchronization that becomes more
and more popular and is a crucial element for the success of mobile data services,
but I don't see them getting quickly at the same level of Symbian on a global level,
it's going to take at least 4-5 years for them to catch-up, if ever they will...
Meanwhile I don't see a bright future for Palm OS, neither BREW, though BREW is
still quite strong in the market due to Qualcomm strength on the market.
Nobody can compete with Symbian as of now, their competitors will have to come up
with a stronger OS and that doesn't look obvious.
At last, don't forget about Linux who has a lot of potential, specifically in
mobile, I see a bright and growing future for them."


No wonder, RIM manufactures a top notch device (with BlackBerry OS on board) that is
secure, stable, and dominates market share with state and local government, the
military, and with commercial corporations. In 2005 RIM was the first largest PDA
supplier, and their technology BlackBerry occupied the second place among OS
manufacturers giving Microsoft product the go-by.

RIM develops its own software for its devices, using C++ and Java technology. Third
party developers applications must be digitally signed, that guarantees the
application authorship.
Available services are: Wireless Email Service, Wireless Calendar Service, Wireless
Internet (HTML and WAP formats) Services, Voice and SMS, Mobile Data Service,
Attachment Service, Instant Messenger, GPS Service, Bluetooth etc.

The full feature handsets market is hard to predict, however almost all analysts
predict steady and increasing growth of this market (which is observed at the
moment). Each manufacturer aspires to create a common OS to globalize and
standardize application development, distribution and management (as they say) to
develop applications for all but not for each distinct device. Some people welcome
such opportunity and some are bothered by possible monopolization and subsequent
abuses in this domain. What is observed at the moment that each of the
manufacturers had occupied a distinct characteristic niche, where he is successful,
and already from there with mixed success tries to "conquer" the mobile wireless
world.

Experts' Area

Alexei Golovashov, Senior QA Engineer, QArea Group:

"BlackBerry? One of its main advantages is an advanced ergonomics both of the
device itself and its software. The user interface, as of today, I suppose, is one
of the best among developed for PDA devices. While its main disadvantage is
absence of memory card. Absence of the latter means that it can not be used for
other purposes, it is narrow directed. I use my Symbian as MP3 player and to watch
movies. I will not be able to use BlackBerry for that even if I want to.
BlackBerry is convenient only for business domain, I guess, while Symbian also can
be used as a game platform, and its a rather essential part of users who use it
that way. BREW, from my point of view, has no bright future at all. J2ME is that
well-developed that nobody pays attention to BREW. Furthermore, all BREW
applications are to be certified, that complicates their usage and distribution," -
says Alexei Golovashov, QArea\'s Senior QA Engineer.



What then

The whole world, and wireless market in particular, moves toward high speeds,
multiple functions and extended business possibilities. 3G networks is the next
inevitable stage of mobile market development. It provides plenty of capabilities
both for business and entertainment, communication and data transfer, Internet
access and mobile e-mailing. Most of 3G devices should combine all available 3G
technologies to be competitive. This factor will also affect the development of
devices and operating systems for them. As we can see, the mobile market requires a
device that could fullest reveal the capabilities of next generation mobile networks
3G and 4G. These numbers are dramatic confirmation of 3G leading position: 173
Commercial 3G Operators in 75 Countries worldwide (as of February 02, 2006), over
228 million reported 3G CDMA subscribers (as of November 30, 2005), 826 models of 3G
devices worldwide. The industry standard for 3G wireless networks consists of 5
operating modes - three of them are based on CDMA technology: CDMA2000, WCDMA (UMTS)
and TD-SCDMA. In this light BREW OS has a great opportunity to become a leader,
though Nokia 6680 under Symbian OS is a 3G world bestseller telephone. The services
by 3G carriers are quite actual already - 80% of British mobile users are ready to
pay for mobile TV service, nothing to say about GPS, high-speed packet data access
and high quality voice services.

Still large companies, financial giants, transnational corporations and government
institutions adhere to the tried technologies - they use BlackBerry - undisputed
leader in enterprise mobile solutions for mobile professionals and seek no
alternative for it. However, if You still want an alternative for You BlackBerry
You should be set for paying a pretty penny of some $500 for a new device and a new
connection and it is not easy at all to find an equal substitution.

And let us don't forget that more players like Windows Mobile OS and Linux OS are on
their way and hit their stride.

Undoubtedly, there's still a long way to go: Symbian powered nearly 34 million
devices last year, more than double what Microsoft was able to ship, but the gap is
narrowing.

MS provided an adequate tool set for the developers to develop software for their
platform. In many ways they are helping to open up software innovation on devices.
While developers for Symbian OS quite often complain of its being bad documented and
too many OS versions. Microsoft's long legacy includes an understanding of the
Developer and providing Developers tools. Symbian is a newcomer. Still, we
shouldn't forget about the power of open source: Why would a Developer want to
restrict themselves into a platform with a proprietary software code? Some experts
consider that just the developer support is going to be key in who wins in the
consumer market place.

Much also depends on marketing and promotion: Symbian\'s operating system is used in
many top-end business phones today, because of its support for features such as PIM,
voice-conferencing, push email and Web access. Nokia phone stands for world
recognized brand and image phone - and it does pay dividends. To have Nokia's
smartphone is almost the same as to drive Mercedes.

The potential of growing markets should also be considered: the demand for mobile
phones in India, China, Eastern Europe and Africa is not a new phenomenon. Just in
time enter a growing market and you can lead the race (Industry analysts forecast
that 80% of the next billion mobile phone customers will come from emerging
markets).

This is a niche market, all around. We say Europe - we mean Symbian, we say USA -
we mean Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and BREW. BREW - is limited to CDMA markets (US
and Chinese markets), Blackberry - is closely tied to business and corporate
clients, Symbian is prevailing mainly in Europe: it turns out they have nothing to
"brew". I hope none of them comes to dominate, since that is a recipe for
stagnation; the 3 equally balanced would be perfect for fair competition and product
development. We can not provide adequate predictions for someone\'s success or
failure. It will be just a forecast.

All is left is to guess who to place stake on .


Authors:

Serge Bocharov
Oksana Lutikova
Eugene Kovalik

info@QArea.com


Web Site = http://www.qarea.com

Contact Details = Novgorodskaya St.3a
+380577021701
info@qarea.com