Re: Symbian and Citrix - Vertigo/ICA Bridge?
Thread- I linked this to a post I did about Vertigo and the Palm OS. I have to say, I have to re-fresh my memory on this subject, but I do recall we were once all quite interested in where a Citrix-Symbian relationship was taking CTXS and how Vertigo was going to also play a role.
So here's an article that I believe is pertinent to our previous discussions, many months ago, on the mobile wireless Internet world of which Citrix was going to participate in. I know this may totally confuse newbies to CTXS, but I'm fairly certain this applies to CTXS. If you hit the url linked above, it'll take you back to our discussions about the mobile wireless world and CTXS. -MikeM(From Florida)
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Onward Symbian Soldiers! Software System Marches Into Battle
By Nick Watson
Senior European Correspondent
8/21/00 LONDON -- Symbian is continuing its seemingly inexorable progress toward establishing its operating software as the standard for next-generation wireless devices. If it succeeds, there will be many beneficiaries.
On Friday, Symbian -- a venture between Psion, Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson and Matsushita that is designing next-generation mobile phones based on Psion's EPOC operating system -- announced that Sanyo would join Philips Electronics and Sony as licensees of Symbian's software.
And TSC has learned from industry sources that Symbian is set to announce another two licensees before the year is out. The identity of these new licensees is not yet known.
These developments build further optimism in the wake of reports last month that the head of Microsoft's wireless operations, Harel Kodesh, resigned earlier this year because of dissatisfaction with the company's operating system. These developments continue to fuel the belief that Symbian will manage to beat out the competing systems of Windows CE and 3Com's Palm OS.
And the Winner Is
Certainly Tsugufumi Matsuoka, Sanyo's general manager, appears to believe so. "Symbian provides a unique mix of expertise and technology, and has set the standard software platform for next-generation mobile phones," Matsuoka said when making the licensing announcement.
Analysts are understandably less forthright, but many agree with Matsuoka's sentiments. Ian Burgess, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston, notes that the four wireless partners in Symbian alone supply between 75% to 80% of the world handset market. "Although we are reluctant to simply assume that EPOC can become the de facto industry standard, we still see this as the most likely outcome," Burgess wrote in a recent research report.
Nainish Bapna, technology equity analyst at Nomura, sees this deal with Sanyo as another important building block in Symbian's attempt to dominate the market for next-generation phones.
"Symbian is placing EPOC into different parts of the value market -- Sanyo at the low end, Sony at the mid-to-high end," Bapna says -- although, perhaps, Sanyo wouldn't quite see it like that.
In line to benefit from Symbian's success are obviously the founding fathers of the venture. Psion, the largest shareholder, announced last month that it has agreed with other members of the consortium to float Symbian, "subject to good progress in the establishment of volume products and to prevailing conditions in financial markets."
And aside from the founders, others will benefit from a Symbian victory, notably the industry that has grown up around the system.
A Symbiotic Relationship
One such company is Digital Information Architects. Digia, as it's commonly known, is one of the many emerging companies that are building software and applications to run on Symbian phones.
Chosen recently as one of Time magazine's 50 hot European technology companies, the 3-year-old company designs end-user applications for mobile B2C and B2B commerce solutions, especially in the spheres of travel, entertainment and finance. For example, Digia provides the software that would allow a user to download money onto the SIM card inside the mobile phone in order to purchase an airline ticket.
"Think of it as if Microsoft shipped windows only 60% ready," Pekka Sivonen, the chairman of Digia, explained to TSC. "Symbian is the core enabling technology and we continue where Symbian leaves off."
Digia is currently seeking its second round of financing, but already its major shareholders include such wireless luminaries as Sonera (SNRA:Nasdaq ADR - news), the Finnish telecommunications operator, which Orange and France Telecom, among others, are keen to acquire.
Sivonen admits Digia's fate is tied closely to that of Symbian. But if the risk is great, then the rewards should be just as sweet.
Symbian expects to achieve mass-volume production of the phones in two years' time. With licensing agreements, Symbian expects to sell 730 million devices by 2002, which is five times the current PC Internet market. "At the peak, Symbian will be selling 10 million handsets per week," says Sivonen.
Yet here's the rub: Such bold predictions about how many handsets the venture expects to sell inevitably put huge pressure on the manufacturers to deliver. The first wireless device using Symbian's operating software -- the Ericsson MC218 -- is already available, and Ericsson has said it will have another EPOC-based product ready for shipment in December, but the makers will have to make sure the rollout continues apace.
And if anyone was in any doubt about how the market treats delays, one need look no further than the 23% fall in the share price of Nokia last month when the company said third-quarter earnings per share would fall short of expectations because of the "timing of new product introductions [and] seasonality."
Nevertheless, Sivonen is confident not only that Symbian's software will become the standard -- "Who else is there?" -- but that the handset makers and the software designers like Digia can meet the market's expectations.
A whole industry hopes Sivonen's optimism is justified. |
