Rumours circulating the UK investment community suggest that Siemens is close to announcing a Symbian smartphone based on Nokia’s Series 60 interface.
Siemens became a Symbian licensee in February 2001 and a shareholder in the company earlier this year, acquiring a 5% stake for EUR 22.8m. Leaked pictures of the Siemens S55 show a device similar to Nokia’s 7650, with an integrated digital camera, colour screen and sliding keypad. According to reports, it will have Java, MMS, e-mail and web browsing capabilities. Siemens licensed Nokia’s Series 60 Symbian interface platform, the same technology which is used in the 7650, earlier this year, but did not provide an anticipated release date for products.
Symbian CEO David Levin said in April that the company was working on unspecified projects with several manufacturers which could result in handset releases from Q4 2002 onwards.