DUEBENDORF-ZURICH, Switzerland, Sept. 5, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Esmertec(tm) (SWX:ESMN), a leading provider of software platforms, applications and services to communications device manufacturers and mobile telecom operators, announces that during the second quarter 2008, its mobile and multimedia devices shipments grew by +4.5% and that its mobile subscriber base grew by +46% compared to Q2 2007.
Thomas Hornung, CEO of Esmertec, said: "I am pleased to see that our business strategy is bearing fruits: we are forging strong relationships with the different mobile industry players, not only with mobile and multimedia manufacturers, but also increasingly with mobile operators. With 26 mobile operators' customers of our Cellicium USSD offering and almost a million mobile phones shipped every 3 days with our Jbed engine, we are establishing a strong position within the mobile industry. Although our Jbed shipments are below expectations, I remain confident that we can meet our core objective for 2008: to put in place all the necessary profitability and growth patterns to ensure a valuable future for Esmertec."
In the Mobile & Multimedia Devices Segment, shipments by customers grew by +4.5% reaching 27.6 million units in the second quarter 2008, compared to 26.4 million in the second quarter 2007. As of 30 June 2008, Esmertec's Jbed software has been shipped in over 260 million mobile phones and consumer electronic devices cumulated. Esmertec's market share of the total mobile phone market is at 9.0%.
During Q2 2008, our shipments were below expectations due to limited growth of the mobile phone industry. The delay in the commercialization of certain mobile phone models integrating Esmertec's Jbed engine into H2 2008 has also reduced performance in this segment. Looking at current market conditions, Esmertec expects its overall shipment volumes to encounter limited growth until the end of the year.
In the mobile phone segment, the diversification of the products and services portfolio illustrated notably by our engagement within the Google-driven Open Handset Alliance, and accelerated by the recent acquisition of the mobile software platform activities of Sagem Mobiles, should create favourable conditions for the future development of Esmertec within the mobile industry, from 2009 onwards.
In the Mobile Operator Segment, Esmertec grew its mobile subscriber base by +46% from Q2 2007, with 146 million mobile subscribers having access to our Cellicium USSD offering as of 30 June 2008. We deployed our service with 2 additional operators during the second quarter, totalling 26 mobile operators in key regions like Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America. This demonstrates that Esmertec USSD services are gaining good traction around the world, and highlights the recognition of the high quality of products and services we provide.
The cumulated installed capacity of our platforms reached 3,720 MPS (Message Per Second), +142.3% from the 1,535 MPS deployed by Q2 2007. Such a significant growth, driven by the extension of capacity for our existing customer base, is to support increasing subscribers' usage and growing adoption of our services.
The Mobile Operator Segment should continue to develop positively during H2 2008 and is well positioned to gain additional customers by year end. In the meantime, we expect the first commercial trials of our recently introduced MAX solution -- Mobile Application eXplorer -- to be launched during Q4 2008.
*** Esmertec business indicators ***
Mobile & Multimedia Devices Segment
-----------------------------------
2007 2008 YoY
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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q2 vs Q2
Quarterly
shipments
(M units) 19,9 26,4 27,1 32,8 26,5 27,6 4,5%
Cumulative
shipments
(M units) 120,2 146,6 173,7 206,5 233,0 260,6 77,8%
Market
share (%) 7,7% 9,6% 9,4% 9,8% 9,1% 9,0% -6,3%
Ratio
committed 96,3% 55,4% 24,5% 22,0% 28,1% 24,7% N/A
shipments
(%)
Unit
Backlog 79,5* 91,0* 73,4* 54,5* 59,4* 63,0 N/A
(M units)
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* Errors in previous backlog report eliminated
Quarterly shipments: Number of mobile and multimedia devices integrating Esmertec's Jbed engine sold by manufacturers in the quarter.
Cumulative shipments: Cumulated number of mobile and multimedia devices integrating Esmertec's Jbed engine sold by manufacturers over the years.
Market share: Esmertec's quarterly shipments divided by the total industry's quarterly shipments. Note that only around 65% of these devices integrate the Java technology.
Committed shipments ratio: Ratio of Esmertec's quarterly shipments related to committed volume contracts (i.e. accounted in revenues during the previous quarters) divided by total Esmertec's quarterly shipments.
Unit backlog: Total volume of mobile and multimedia devices related to committed volume contracts that have not been yet shipped by Esmertec's customers.
Mobile Operator Products Segment
--------------------------------
2007 2008 YoY
-------------------------------------------------------
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q2 vs Q2
Number of
customers 14 20 20 24 24 26 30,0%
Number of
subscribers 72,6 100,0 103,0 125,0 138,0 146,0 46,0%
(M)
Cumulative
installed
capacity
(MPS) 1 115 1 535 1 555 2 305 2 375 3 720 142,3%
Average
capacity
per
million
suscribers
(MPS per
subs) 15,4 15,4 15,1 18,4 17,2 25,5 66,0%
Maximum
capactity
per
million
subscribers
(MPS per
subs) 50 80 50 53 50 100 N/A
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Number of customers: Total number of operators using Esmertec's mobile services platforms. An operator is recognized as a customer at the time when the PAC (Provisional Acceptance Certificate) is received (time when we account all license and hardware revenue in IFRS).
Number of subscribers: Cumulated number of subscribers of all Esmertec's mobile operator customers.
Cumulated installed capacity: Sum of all platform capacities installed for our customer base. Metrics expressed in MPS -- Messages Per Second.
Average capacity per million of subscriber: Cumulated installed capacity divided by the number of subscribers.
Maximum capacity per million of subscriber: Highest ratio of cumulated installed capacity divided by the number of subscribers among the customer base.
This communication contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions of the company's management only, and involves certain risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein could be substantially impacted by risks and influences that are not foreseeable at present, so that actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, expected, or projected. Esmertec disclaims any intention or obligation to update and revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Esmertec
Esmertec is a leading provider of Java(tm) in-device engines and mobile services platforms. The company's high-performance solutions enable consumers to easily discover and access content and services on any mobile phone. Esmertec's customer database has grown to more than 90 customers, including mobile operators and manufacturers of mobile handsets, set-top boxes and interactive televisions. Its in-device engines power 1 out of 10 new phones (shipped in more than 260 million devices) and its USSD mobile services platforms serves more than 146 million mobile subscribers world-wide.
Esmertec is a founding member of the Google initiated Open Handset Alliance, delivering customized solutions for Android, the mobile platform.
Founded in 1999, Esmertec is headquartered in Zurich-Switzerland with subsidiaries in China, France, South Korea, and the USA, and offices in Taiwan and the UK. Since 2005, Esmertec is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange (ESMN).
Esmertec and Jbed are trademarks of Esmertec AG.Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks of their respective owners.