Orange chooses Nokia S60 as preferred cellphone platform

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 05 October 2006 18:46

IT Industry - Deals

Nokia and Orange have announced a collaboration to create an Orange specific software package to complement Nokia's Symbian OS-based S60 cellphone software platform.

• Announcements

Nokia says this enable S60 phones to be more quickly customised to Orange's requirements and "will in turn help S60 device manufacturers, who will benefit from greater cost efficiency and shorter time-to-market." However the main beneficiary of the arrangement will be Nokia which is by far the major producer of S60 based phones.

Joint activities will include creating synergies between S60 and Orange roadmaps, and testing Orange specific software assets and application development in cooperation with the Orange Partner organisation and Forum Nokia, Nokia's global developer program.

"This announcement is part of Orange's ongoing Signature strategy, which is aimed at delivering a consistent customer experience across our range of devices," said Yves Maitre, vice president, devices, Orange. "By working with Nokia and S60 on Symbian OS we plan to bring increased consistency and efficiency to our signature customisation process. This benefits both handset manufactures and customers through an enhanced service experience and faster time to market."

Nokia brags that the S60 built on Symbian OS is "the leading smartphone software in the world and is licensed by some of the foremost mobile phone manufacturers in the market."