Bitstream offers small, fast font rendering subsystem for Symbian OS mobile phones

Mobile Internet, The, August, 2005

Bitstream joins Symbian Platinum Program

Bitstream Inc. announced that it has joined the Symbian Platinum Program to support the growing market for data-enabled mobile phones, also known as smartphones, based on Symbian OS(TM).

As a Platinum Partner, Bitstream is extending font rendering technology and high-quality international fonts in industry-standard and compact formats to Symbian OS, which powers today's most popular smartphones. Symbian OS is licensed by the world's leading mobile phone manufacturers.

As of Q1 2005, cumulative shipments of Symbian OS phones exceeded 32 million, and year-on-year phone shipments grew more than 180 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

"This partnership reflects our commitment to the font technology market and our intent to build upon our mobile strategy. We are pleased to be working with Symbian, who supports open standards and drives innovation," said Anna Chagnon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bitstream Inc. "Scalable font rendering and international fonts add significant value to data-enabled mobile phones. Bitmaps are no longer acceptable, particularly since Bitstream's font rendering subsystem resides in a small footprint, provides font compression, and produces high-quality text. Bitstream technology provides a worldwide font solution that developers can implement quickly and upgrade at any time."

As a Symbian Platinum Partner, Bitstream ensures the close integration of innovative font technology with smartphones based on Symbian OS.

"We are delighted to have Bitstream join the Symbian Platinum Program and bring its award-winning font technology and global font solutions to the Symbian OS ecosystem," said Jerry Panagrossi, Vice President U. S. Operations, Symbian. "Bitstream's Font Fusion technology enables developers to render high-quality characters in any format and resolution, thereby solving the issues with providing scalable text display on smartphones."