S60 becomes more Orange

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Orange and Nokia today announced that they would be working together to customise S60 for Orange signature devices. S60 is one of Orange's preferred software platforms. The Orange signature device program includes those devices which express or enhance the Orange brand and lifestyle with an emphasis on high end devices.

Orange and Nokia will work together to create an Orange specific software package to complement S60 running on Symbian OS and to accelerate the device customisation process. This will benefit device manufacturers by reducing development costs and time to market. Orange will benefit by getting key new devices to its customer base more quickly than has previously been possible. Joint activities include testing Orange specifc software, aligning roadmaps (which will allow new features and technologies to reach the market more quickly) and closer co-operation between each companies respective developer organisations Orange Partner and Forum Nokia.

It is likely that the device customisation will use the new XML customisation framework first introduced in S60 3rd Edition and expanded to the wider application shell environment in S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. The device is likely to focus not only on Orange branding but adding items to menus to link direct to Orange services.

This announcement is similar to Vodafone selection of S60 as a preferred platform at 3GSM in February of this year. It is part of a wider trend which is seeing operators standardise around specific platforms for significant portions of their device portfolios.

"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 customization process. This benefits both handset manufactures and customers through an enhanced service experience and faster time to market."
 
"The collaboration is an example of the depth of our relationship with Orange," said Matti Vänskä, Vice President, Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, Nokia. "It also demonstrates S60 software's ability to respond to various market requirements and further strengthens S60 software's position in the market. At the same time it reinforces the role of S60 software on Symbian OS for device creation and enables innovation from software developers."

Orange Partner are holding a partner event, the Orange Partner Camp, in Cadiz from the 23rd to 25th October. Orange will be holding several sessions on its device and platform strategy at this event.