Symbian joint venture expands with Siemens as new shareholder

Siemens joins Ericsson, Matsushita, Motorola, Nokia, Psion and Sony Ericsson; commits to Symbian OS for future Smartphone projects

April 23rd 2002

Symbian and Siemens Information and Communication Mobile (IC Mobile) today announces that Siemens IC Mobile has agreed to become a new shareholder in the Symbian joint venture, strengthening its commitment to promoting Smartphones based on Symbian OS. Under the terms agreed between the shareholders Siemens will acquire a 5% stake in Symbian for a value of €22.8 million (£14.25 million). As a shareholder Siemens will sit on Symbian's supervisory board contributing their experience to future technical, product and strategy development of Symbian OS.

Rudi Lamprecht, Member of the Managing Board at Siemens AG, pointed out: "This latest agreement between Symbian and Siemens Mobile is very exciting news for our customers and a clear signal to the market and all application developers. Having licensed Symbian OS for our Smartphone development last year, now we also want to take the chance to strongly influence the open standard for Smartphones. After careful evaluation of Symbian OS, Siemens Mobile, one of the leading mobile phones manufacturers has decided to strengthen its commitment to Symbian OS."

David Levin, CEO, Symbian, said: "We are pleased to welcome Siemens as a new shareholder to Symbian. This commitment together with the recently completed funding in which all shareholders took up their pre-emption rights demonstrates Symbian's leadership and wide support in the mobile industry. Symbian is now the de-facto world standard OS choice for Smartphones. We look forward to the introduction of a variety of Smartphones powered by the Symbian OS during the coming year. The company is well positioned in its market as it moves towards a more commercial focus."

Yasuo Katsura, President, Matsushita said: "Panasonic is pleased to welcome Siemens as the latest shareholder of Symbian. Symbian is continuing to make significant advances in setting the standard for next generation mobile phones and attracting leading industry partnerships."

Mike Zafirovski, President of Motorola's Personal Communications Sector, said: "Motorola is pleased to welcome Siemens as a shareholder and supporter of Symbian. Motorola believes that Symbian OS provides handset manufacturers with an opportunity to accelerate the adoption of compelling new, multi-media services and we welcome the participation of another manufacturer to help make this a reality."

Matti Alahuhta, President, Nokia Mobile Phones, said: "Nokia welcomes Siemens as a new Symbian shareholder, to work with the other leading mobile terminal manufacturers to fulfill our joint vision and commitment for the future of our industry. Symbian technology provides a robust and future-proof platform for advanced mobile terminals, designed specifically for the mobile world. Sharing the same open smart phone and communicator platform between the mobile terminal vendors will accelerate growth and bring exciting business opportunities for independent software developers willing to address the mobile market, as well as economies of scale for the whole industry."

Ian McElroy, CEO, Psion PLC said: "Psion is delighted that Siemens is becoming a Symbian shareholder and investor. Siemens' decision serves to underline and strengthen yet further Symbian's status as the company that will deliver the next generation operating system technology of choice for the mobile communications industry."

Katsumi Ihara, President, Sony Ericsson, said: "Sony Ericsson welcomes Siemens as a new Symbian shareholder. We're seeing the mobile industry rapidly converge on Symbian as it moves into a new commercial focus. The open industry standard Symbian OS has been widely adopted and is now enabling us and other manufacturers to bring to market exciting new smartphones that will drive the mobile content, applications and services market."

Details of the shareholding before and after the £14.25 million (€22.8 million) of new funding are as follows:

1. About Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group

The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (IC Mobile) offers the complete range of mobile solutions including mobile devices, infrastructure and applications. Devices include mobile phones, wireless modules, mobile organizers and cordless phones as well as products for wireless home networks. The infrastructure portfolio includes GSM, GPRS and 3G mobile network technologies from base stations and switching systems to intelligent networks, e.g. for prepaid services. Mobile Applications cover end-to-end solutions for Messaging, Location Based Services or Mobile Payment. For the fiscal year 2001 (September 30), IC Mobile recorded sales of EUR 11.3 billion and employed 30,730 people worldwide.

You can access further information about Siemens IC Mobile on the Internet at www.siemens-mobile.com

2. About Symbian

Symbian is a software licensing company, owned by wireless industry leaders, that is the trusted supplier of the advanced, open, standard operating system for data-enabled mobile phones. Symbian's mission is to create a mass-market for Symbian OS mobile phones by enabling our licensees to build winning products. Open Symbian OS phones announced by licensees include Nokia's 9210 Communicator, Nokia's 7650 smartphone, and Sony Ericsson's P800 smartphone. Symbian's website can be found at www.symbian.com

3. About Psion PLC

Psion focuses on providing mobile data and corporate network solutions. Psion has a well-earned reputation for technology innovation and leadership. Psion was founded in 1980 by Chairman David Potter and is now one of Europe's leading technology companies with a history of pioneering new markets for digital products. Psion PLC's strategy focuses on industrial and enterprise markets through Psion Teklogix and on its strategic investment in Symbian. For more information, please visit www.psion.com.