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Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens to develop industry initiative for Universal Mobile Games Platform

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Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens to develop industry initiative for Universal Mobile Games Platform - Mobile leaders define API's for Mobile Games Platform; benefiting operators, developers, and consumers. Ericsson, Motorola, Inc. and Siemens Information and Communication Mobile, today announced plans to develop an industry initiative to define a universal mobile games platform, using existing and emerging standards. With this initiative, the three companies aim to help mobile operators offer a broad selection of games content and to provide developers with a standardized platform. Mobile consumers will benefit through a rich, interactive, multiplayer game experience. Mobile operators and developers of mobile games are faced with an overwhelming array of choices for mobile game services and lack a platform that is open, standard and extensible. Without such a platform, operators face greater complexity and cost in offering a wide range of games that access their network functionality, such as billing, authentication and location services. The initiative will focus initial efforts on agreeing upon open Applications Programming Interfaces (APIs) and a Software Development Kit (SDK), which, once developed, will be available to software developers subject to license. The three companies expect to have specifications available in Q3 of this year. Once the initiative is formally launched, Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens plan to work with other industry leaders and innovators to extend the benefits of this universal games platform, including mobile phone and infrastructure vendors, platform technology providers, games developers, mobile operators, games service providers and systems integrators. The objectives of the proposed initiative are to: · · Support mobile network operators and Application Service Providers (ASPs) to deliver the most compelling selection of applications · · Attract games developers to create applications that can easily be deployed to reach the largest number of mobile consumers · · Supply consumers worldwide with access to a wide variety of engaging interactive mobile games content - driving the demand for next generation networks and devices "We believe that offering compelling mobile games will act as an effective catalyst for the Mobile Internet market as a whole, so we are convinced that operators, as well as the game developing community, will benefit greatly from this initiative," said Jan Lindgren, vice president of Ericsson Internet Applications. "Our aim is to promote an open approach to the mobile games market by supporting current - and future - standards and by collaborating with all interested industry players. This co-operative approach clearly demonstrates Ericsson's strategy of supporting network operators wherever and whenever we can." "We're seeing that developers of mobile games are resorting to writing their own platforms or having to multiply the efforts to support many platforms," said Tim Krauskopf, vice president and general manager of Core Solutions for Motorola's Internet Software and Content Group. "As a result, costs are increasing and distribution options are limited. As an industry we need to provide an integrated development environment that unites mobile networks, devices and game servers as a mass market games console." "One of the Siemens IC Mobile objectives is to make it possible for users in Tokyo to sit and play a multi-player game with some friends in Washington and Munich at the same time, on different networks and platforms, with various models of mobile phones," said Thorsten Heins, President of Solutions within the Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group. Ericsson, Motorola, and Siemens have agreed to work with Metrowerks, a leading development tools organization, to support this platform with the company's CodeWarrior® Integrated Development Environment (IDE). CodeWarrior, a leading IDE for the consumer and wireless markets, is used by the majority of developers for Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Palm OS, and also supports Java (J2ME for wireless) and Symbian. With more than 400,000 developers worldwide using CodeWarrior development tools, Metrowerks will play a major role in expanding the developer community for this platform. Developer support, test facilities and application certification will be provided through Ericsson Mobility World, which includes Ericsson Developers' Zone, Motorola's Applications Global Network (MAGNET) Program, and Siemens' relevant program. Ericsson is the leading communications supplier, combining innovation in mobility and Internet in creating the new era of mobile Internet. Ericsson provides total solutions covering everything from systems and applications to mobile phones and other communications tools. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for customers all over the world. Read more at http://www.ericsson.com/press FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Eva Sparr, Director of Communications, Ericsson Internet Applications Phone: +46 8 508 76 553; E-mail: eva.sparr@lme.ericsson.se USA Press Contact for Ericsson: Kathy Egan, Vice President Communications, Ericsson Inc. Phone: +1 212 685 4030; E-mail: kathy.egan@ericsson.com USA Press Contact for Motorola: David Rudd, Motorola Public Relations Phone: +1 847 576 7089; Email: david.rudd@motorola.com EMEA Press Contact for Motorola: Patrick Hamilton, PR & Marketing Communications Manager Motorola Phone: +44 7715 175 043; Email: patrick.hamilton@motorola.com Press Contact for Siemens: Axel J. Schafmeister, Press Spokesperson Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Phone: +49 170 63 29 546; E-mail: axel.schafmeister@mch.siemens.de USA Press Contact for Siemens: Esra Ozer, PR Manager Siemens Corporation Phone: +1 212 258 4348; E-mail: esra.ozer@sc.siemens.com Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2000 were $37.6 billion. More information can be found at Motorola's company Web site: www.motorola.com MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered trademarks of Motorola, Inc. Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Copyright 2001, Motorola, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (IC Mobile) offers the complete range of mobile solutions including mobile devices, infrastructure and applications. Devices include mobile phones, wireless modules, mobile organizers, cordless and corded phones as well as products for wireless home networks. The infrastructure portfolio includes the complete range of mobile network technologies from base stations and switching systems to intelligent networks, e.g. for prepaid services. Applications cover UMTS services for Unified Messaging, Location Based Services, and Mobile Payment. For the fiscal year 2000 (which ended September 30, 2000), IC Mobile recorded sales of EUR 9 billion and EBIT of EUR 758 million. The group employs 27,450 employees worldwide. For further information about Siemens IC Mobile, please visit our home page: www.siemens.com/mobile

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