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26th May 2006 - Nokia today announced the release to the
global open source software community of the source code for
S60 WebKit, the engine for its leading-edge Web Browser for
S60, marking a turning point in the drive toward an open code
base for web browsers used on mobile devices.
Nokia's contribution of the S60 WebKit source code, with key
mobility enhancements that make WebKit easier to port to different
mobile platforms, will enable reduced fragmentation in the
next generation of mobile browsers, simplifying content development
for the mobile web and accelerating adoption of mobile browsing
by millions of smartphone users worldwide.
The web browser source code released by Nokia comes under
the terms of the open source BSD License, a highly permissive
software license with few requirements that is one of the
most popular licenses among free software developers worldwide.
The source code will be made available to open source developers
through the WebKit Open Source Project (www.webkit.org).
Nokia's open sourcing of the engine to its high-performance
S60 mobile browser, which replicates on handheld devices the
true web-page rendering of complete desktop browsers, marks
the start of a collaborative open source effort that will
enable smartphone users industry-wide to push beyond the millions
of mobile-friendly pages currently on the web and begin to
experience full web browsing of the estimated 25 billion pages
on the Internet today.
"Nokia's open source based Web Browser for S60 leads
the way for Internet browsing on mobile devices," said
Przemek Czarnecki, executive vice president of Terminal Technology,
T-Mobile International. "Its innovative handling of website
navigation, which is similar to using a web browser on the
desktop, is of particular interest to T-Mobile as we are closely
working on Internet browsing with our product 'web'n'walk'.
The use of open source to achieve greater website compatibility
is an important strategy for the mobile industry."
Nokia's recently launched Web Browser for S60 enables full
mobile browsing of complete web pages as they exist on the
Internet, leveraging compatibility with AJAX technologies
and support for dynamic HTML and scripting language. The release
of source code for the S60 Webkit browser engine, based on
WebCore and JavaScriptCore components of Apple's award-winning
Safari browser, will be accompanied by Nokia's active participation
with the open source community in developing further enhancements
to the browser, sharing changes to the core browser engine
as they are made in real time.
"This initiative will attract a critical mass of open
source software developers to build a consistent, web browser
engine as the clearest path to minimize fragmentation in the
mobile browser market," said Lee Epting, vice president
of Nokia's global software developer support program, Forum
Nokia. "With nearly 100 million smartphones deployed
worldwide, a common open source solution driving mobile web
browser consistency will deliver on the long-awaited promise
of full-web browsing and a true web experience for smartphone
users around the globe."
"Nokia is pleased to deliver its mobility enhancements
to the S60 browser engine and excited that developers will
be collaborating through Webkit with the open source community
on real-time evolution of the browser core code, paving the
way toward broad adoption of an open source solution for next-generation
browsing throughout the mobile industry," said Heikki
Heinaro, vice president for S60 applications, Nokia.
In addition to its modular, extensible architecture and open
interfaces, key features of the code that Nokia is contributing
to the open source community include:
- Memory manager, designed specifically to handle out-of-memory
situations on the device;
- Mouse Pointer, delivering a desktop-like navigation experience;
- Frames rendered as tables;
- Full support for "Text Search" capabilities;
- Reference UI, a reference implementation of standard browser
user-interface features;
- Full mobility support for dynamic HTML and the scripting
language that enables it; and,
- Preservation on mobile screens of original designer-intended
web page layouts, with text custom-fitted to the mobile display
width.
The first Nokia devices to include the Web browser for S60
will be ESeries (E60, E61 and E70) and NSeries devices (N71,
N73, N80, N91, N92 and N93), as well as the Nokia 3250 Phone.
Shipment of select models has already begun and others will
come available throughout the remainder of the second quarter.
More information about Web Browser for S60 can be found online
at http://s60.com/browser. Developers wishing to learn more
about available tools enabling them to modify and contribute
to the Web browser for S60, as well as build on top of the
browser to provide rich content for their applications, can
visit http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/S60browser.
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