Avaya to develop apps for Symbian

US communications vendor Avaya has signed with mobility platform vendor Symbian to develop enterprise telephony and collaboration capabilities for Symbian OS smartphones.

Avaya said in a statement that it would extend its MultiVantage Communications IP-based applications to Symbian, through the Symbian Platinum Partner program.

The Symbian OS is used on many popular brands of mobile phone, such as Nokia and Samsung.

“In 2004, close to 14.4 million Symbian OS smartphones were sold worldwide and close to 25 million have been sold to date,” Avaya said.

“By 2008, IDC predicts that more than 130 million smartphones will be selling worldwide each year, representing 15 percent of the overall mobile phone market.”

Avaya Communications Manager software from the MultiVantage suite would be used in the deal to help give “full business telephony capabilities” to mobile users, Avaya claimed.

Call conferencing, transfer, directory look-up and abbreviated dialling could be extended to the Symbian platform by using the software, Avaya said.