| Intrinsyc aims $8M funding at Windows CE feature-phone OS |
Oct. 05, 2005
 Intrinsyc Software Inc. this week closed an $8.0 million financing round with Wellington Financial Fund II. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate development of a software stack for mid-range mobile phones -- typically called "feature-phones" -- based on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system.
(Click here for larger µPhone dialer screenshot)
Intrinsyc has increasingly focused on developing an embedded software platform for feature-phones, a mobile phone market segment unserved by Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which targets the higher-end -- but currently much lower volume -- "smartphone" segment.
Intrinsyc describes feature-phones as "advanced handsets [that] offer consumers sought-after applications such as digital camera capability, video streaming, gaming, multimedia, and messaging."
Strategy Analytics recently projected that feature-phones will account for around 50 percent of some 725 million mobile phone shipments in 2005, while smartphones will represent just six percent (see chart, below).
Gartner, on the other hand, recently forcast worldwide shipments of 779 million mobile phones for 2005, but noted that smartphones represent "the fastest growing category of device."
Despite the fact that feature-phones are expected by analysts to continue to ship in much higher volumes than high-end smartphones for at least five years, Microsoft remains focused on the higher-end devices with its Windows Mobile Smartphone operating system. It is likely that Microsoft maintains that stance due to a conviction that smartphones will eventually dominate the market, combined with an expectation of higher profit margins for the more sophisticated software required by the devices.
In order to fill the resulting gap in Windows Embedded support for feature-phones, Intrinsyc has developed a mobile phone stack based on Windows CE -- the same software that underpins Windows Mobile -- but targeting lower-end devices. The company unveiled its first feature-phone products last February, a suite of software and tools meant to extend Windows CE into the feature-phone device segment. The suite includes the µPhone (MicroPhone) Telephony Suite, described as a "highly portable and customizable set of telephony drivers and applications ideal for bringing telephony-enabled Windows CE-based wireless handhelds to market," among other products."
In May, the company established a Mobile Software Products division, charged with "leveraging the Windows CE operating system to create software that will allow mobile phone manufacturers to design more cost-effective and feature-laden handsets."
When it first announced its Windows CE-based feature-phone software stack, Intrinsyc quoted Strategy Analytics director of wireless devices Chris Ambrosio as saying, "A standardized [operating system] strategy beyond enterprise-focused smart phones will be a critical success factor for handset vendors looking to meet the Mobile Messenger, Technophile, and Digital Youth market requirements for an increasing array of features folded into a greater variety of models."
According to Intrinsyc, the $8 million financing it announced this week is in secured two-year debentures. "The maturity date may be extended by one year if Intrinsyc meets certain pre-determined financial targets and may also accelerate in certain circumstances including a default by the Corporation or in the event of a change of control of the Corporation," the company added.
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