Nokia 原本就拥有 Symbian 47.9% 的股权,6月24号,Nokia 正式宣布,出资 4.1 亿美元,全面收购 Symbian 余下的 52% 股份。Nokia 表示,将使 Symbian OS 成为一种免收专利费的产品,很明显,这是用以应对 Google Android 等日益增长的竞争威胁。 Nokia 将以每股 3.647 欧元的价格收购 Symbian 余下的全部股份,Nokia 正从日本松下、西门子和爱立信等公司手中收购这些股份, Nokia 还称,预计韩国三星公司将接受自己的出价。 本次交易将使 Nokia 获得这家世界最大的高档手机操作系统开发商的控制权。 Nokia 的首席执行官 Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo 表示:"这是我们软件发展战略的一个重要里程碑。"他还称,本次交易"将推动具有吸引力和网络功能的新应用软件的开发,满足新一代消费者的需求"。 周二赫尔辛基股市的午盘交易中, Nokia 的股票下跌约1%
一些行业观察家表示,本次交易的出发点值得肯定。
电信业研究和咨询公司 CSS Insight 的分析师 Geoff Blaber 表示:"本次行动是针对其他手机软件提供商的威胁不断增长而做出的明智回应。"
过去几年中, Symbian 已遭遇微软的 Windows Mobile、Research in Motion 和 Apple 等力度不断加大的竞争威胁。这些公司都在开发针对功能复杂型电话 - 除电话功能,它们还可做为数字助理、电子邮件设备和音乐播放器等使用 - 的操作系统。
不久前,Google 也加入了这场竞争,推出了名为 Android 的开源操作平台。
Geoff Blaber 指出, Symbian 必须迅速做出反应的技术挑战包括:Apple 推出的触摸式用户界面、高性能和易于使用的开发工具等。
Geoff Blaber还称, Nokia 收购 Symbian 中五个合作伙伴的股份只是时间问题。CSS Insight 估计,这家芬兰公司去年向 Symbian 支付了 2.5 亿美元以上的特许使用费。这位分析师表示:"因此,以约 4.1 亿美元收购 Symbian 是商业上的明智之举,这总比不断向其他股东支付相当于津贴的特许使用费要好。"
Nokia 还称,自己已与摩托罗拉 、韩国 LG、三星和索尼爱立信等手机制造商,AT&T、NTT DoCoMo、沃达丰等无线通讯网络运营商,德州仪器、意法半导体等芯片制造商组建了一个非盈利性质的 Symbian 基金会,以推动手机服务的革新。
Nokia 将把 Symbian 及其 S60 软件资产捐献给这个基金会,其他会员将把它们的 UIQ 和 MOAP 软件捐出,在 2009 年组建一个新的联合 Symbian 平台。
收购 Symbian 与 Nokia 近来一系列拓展手机服务的行动是一致的,这些行动包括推出基于定位技术的应用软件。这家知名的手机制造商正力图将自己塑造为一家完备的通讯科技公司,而不是一家单纯的硬件提供商。
Nokia 预计,本次交易将在今年底之前完成,将在 2009 年对公司的盈利产生影响。以下是官方的新闻稿:
Nokia to acquire Symbian Limited to enable evolution of the leading open mobile platform
June 24, 2008
Visionary move embraces openness and accelerates innovation
Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced it has launched a cash offer to acquire all of the shares of Symbian Limited that Nokia does not already own, at a price of EUR 3.647 per share. The net cash outlay from Nokia to purchase the approximately 52% of Symbian Limited shares it does not already own will be approximately EUR 264 million.
Nokia has received irrevocable undertakings from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. and Siemens International Holding BV to accept the offer, representing approximately 91% of the Symbian shares subject to the offer. Nokia also expects Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to accept the offer.
The acquisition is a fundamental step in the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, announced today by Nokia, together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone. More information about the planned foundation can be found at www.symbianfoundation.org.
"This is a significant milestone in our software strategy" said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia. "Symbian is already the leading open platform for mobile devices. Through this acquisition and the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, it will undisputedly be the most attractive platform for mobile innovation. This will drive the development of new and compelling, web-enabled applications to delight a new generation of consumers."
"The wide support for this initiative, uniting the industry around the Symbian platform, reflects the strong gravitational pull it has for application developers and other ecosystem players. We will drive efficient, open innovation by unifying the platform and simplifying the software supply chain, leveraging our experience from mobile devices. Nokia is strongly positioned to realize the benefits of open innovation, as well as accelerating time to market, enabling us to meet and exceed consumer expectations for leading converged devices and experiences", Kallasvuo continued.
Symbian Limited is the software company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market-leading open operating system for mobile devices. User interfaces designed for Symbian OS include S60 from Nokia, MOAP (S) for the 3G network and UIQ, designed by UIQ Technology, a joint venture between Motorola and Sony Ericsson. A privately-owned company established in 1998, Symbian has its headquarters in London, UK and other offices in the United Kingdom, United States and Asia (Bangalore, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo).
"Ten years ago, Symbian was established by far sighted players to offer an advanced open operating system and software skills to the whole mobile industry", said Nigel Clifford, CEO of Symbian. "Our vision is to become the most widely used software platform on the planet and indeed today Symbian OS leads its market by any measure. Today's announcement is a bold new step to achieve that vision by embracing a complete and proven platform, offered in an open way, designed to stimulate innovation, which is at the heart of everything we do."
Mobile devices based on Symbian OS account for 60% of the converged mobile device segment (source: Canalys, 12 months to Q1 2008). Symbian OS represented approximately 7% of all mobile device sales in 2007, up from 5% in 2006 (source: Strategy Analytics). To date, more than 200 million Symbian OS based phones have been shipped, over 235 models, from 8 vendors and on more than 250 mobile networks around the world. More than 4 million developers are engaged in producing applications for Symbian devices.
Nokia expects the acquisition to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2008 and is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. On a reported basis, Nokia expects the transaction to be dilutive in 2009, approximately breakeven in 2010, and accretive in 2011. On a cash basis, Nokia expects the transaction to be dilutive in 2009 and accretive in 2010 and 2011. After the closing, all Symbian employees will become Nokia employees.
Note to Editors:
A press conference will be webcast live from London today at 11:00 UK time and will be available for replay later. To see the web cast, please visit www.nokia.com/press or www.symbianfoundation.org
Further information about the Symbian Foundation is available at www.symbianfoundation.org.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
About Symbian
Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the market-leading open operating system for mobile phones. Symbian licenses Symbian OS to the world's leading handset manufacturers and has built close co-operative business relationships with leading companies across the mobile industry. During Q1 2008, 18.5 million Symbian mobile phones were sold worldwide to over 250 major network operators, bringing the total number of units shipped up to 31 March 2008 to 206 million. Symbian has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom, with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Asia (India, P.R. China, and Korea) and Japan. For more information, please visit www.symbian.com.
六月 24, 2008
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