The m-Router product enables a smart phone running Symbian to talk to a PC over a wired (USB or serial) or wireless (infrared or Bluetooth) connection for purposes of synchronization with contact databases, calendars and task lists, as well as for downloading files in either direction. It was already shipping on versions 6 and 7 of the OS, which are the ones running in most Symbian-based smart phones in the market, but will now also feature in the later versions. Some v8-based phones began to ship late last year, said Rob Davis, m-Router product manager at the Maidenhead-based ISV. It requires a small client to be running on both the handset and the PC.
Besides m-Router, Intuwave’s portfolio also includes: m-Network, a package which enables all the features available in a given mobile phone to be accessed from a PC and is aimed primarily at developers working on mobile applications; m-Test, which is designed for phone manufacturers to test their smart phones using automated testing from Mercury Interactive, and m-Support, which enables technical support staff at an operator to log into a customer’s phone, diagnose a problem and fix it remotely.
Intuwave’s products current work in Symbian and Microsoft environments, the latter being phones running the Pocket PC Phone Edition or Windows Mobile Smartphone OSes. Davis said m-Router is also licensed to IBM for use in synching with Palm devices, but in that scenario there is no need for a client on the handset. While m-Network and the other products are equally relevant in Microsoft environments, he added, m-Router is not required, as Microsoft provides its own alternative in the form of ActiveSync, so m-Network can run over that.
The Symbian camp is currently the largest business opportunity, however, given that the OS powers the vast majority of smart phones in the market, with Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Fujitsu all shipping handsets based on it.
The ISV is privately held so no numbers are available for revenue, but Davis did say that Intuwave is paid for each device shipped with its software bundled into the OS. He said there are no real direct competitors in terms of the product’s functionality. We mainly come across custom-built solutions from the app developers themselves.