Gemalto Joins Open Handset Alliance - Brings Application Development and Security Expertise to Open Mobile OS Initiative

 

Austin, TX, Mar 24, 2010 -  Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced that it is joining the Open Handset Alliance™(OHA), a partnership of more than 60 global mobile industry leaders that  developed Android™, the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.  IDC forecasts that Android will become the second most popular mobile phone operating system worldwide within the next few years.
 
“As the market leader, Gemalto continues to drive innovation producing technology to enhance and secure the mobile experience,” said Sebastien Cano, senior vice president, Telecommunications Business Unit for Gemalto North America.  “Leveraging our long history of secure elements and applications development, and our constant participation in the industry progress efforts, Gemalto will be an active contributor to the open source mobile platform movement.”
 
Gemalto will be an active member of the OHA, joining forces with technology and mobile companies currently engaged with this industry effort to drive the future of the mobile industry. Gemalto brings its expertise in security, in secure elements (UICC, SIM, etc.) development and in the associated applications to the project, and will be contributing to the joint production of technology to further the open mobile OS initiative. This combined effort of industry leaders will provide operators with a unique set of tools to customize and bring new services and applications for Android devices making the user experience more secure and enjoyable.
Gemalto will be working closely with the leading Internet mobile players and other industry leaders in the OHA initiative.  The four largest mobile operators and the largest smartphone manufacturer in the United States are engaged in the project.

“Android software will be the fastest growing operating system between now and 2013” said Will Stofega, program manager, Mobile Device Technology and Trends, IDC. “We see it as a force toward open phones, and being able to customize a smartphone from a UICC will be a great branding distribution tool for operators". 

The researcher projects that 68 million Android-based units will ship in 2013.
More information on Gemalto's telecom solutions can be found at http://www.gemalto.com/telecom/, and information about the Open Handset Alliance is at www.openhandsetalliance.com.


About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2009 annual revenues of €1.65 billion, and over 10 thousand employees operating out of 75 offices, research and service centers in 41 countries.

Gemalto is at the heart of our evolving digital society. The freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain, and work—anytime, anywhere—has become an integral part of what people want and expect, in ways that are convenient, enjoyable and secure.

Gemalto delivers on the growing demands of billions of people worldwide for mobile connectivity, identity and data protection, credit card safety, health and transportation services, e-government and national security. We do this by supplying to governments, wireless operators, banks and enterprises a wide range of secure personal devices, such as subscriber identification modules (SIM) in mobile phones, smart banking cards, electronic passports, and USB tokens for online identity protection. To complete the solution we also provide software, systems and services to help our customers achieve their goals.

As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.

For more information please visit www.gemalto.com.



Contacts:
 
Ray WIZBOWSKI
512-257-3950
raymond.wizbowski@gemalto.com 		 Deb Montner
Montner & Associates
203-226-9290
dmontner@montner.com
Montner & Associates Tech PR Agency