(SYS-CON Media) - Openwave Systems said that it has joined the Symbian Platinum Program to support the growing market for Symbian smartphones. As a Platinum Partner, Openwave is extending its Mobile Integrated Dynamic Application System (MIDAS), a mobile AJAX platform, and Openwave Mobile Browser, Mercury edition to the Symbian ecosystem. Symbian develops and licenses Symbian OS(TM), the market leading operating system for smartphones.

"We are pleased to join the Symbian Platinum Partner Program and expand our client footprint into the smartphone market with the leader in this space," said Peter Galvin, senior vice president of products and marketing at Openwave. "We are strengthening our relationship with the Symbian ecosystem and extending the value of our core products such as MIDAS to Symbian smartphone users, application developers, smartphone manufacturers and network operators."

MIDAS, a mobile AJAX platform designed to enable the creation, customization and deployment of powerful new network enabled applications and interfaces for mass market mobile phones, is part of the Openwave Mobile Phone Suite, which also includes the Openwave Mobile Browser, Mercury Edition. The Mercury edition browser enables increased access to Web content on mobile devices and a faster experience. The Openwave Mobile Browser, Mercury Edition increases access to Web content by expanding upon Openwave's off-net browsing capabilities with new features such as scripting, AJAX compatibility and "Wide Screen" and "Map and Zoom" display modes.

"Within 5 years, greater than 50% of mobile phones sold in developed countries will be smartphone category devices - a trend that will increase the need for offering compelling and personalized user experiences through the delivery of rich-media content and browsing," said Jerry Panagrossi, vice president, US operations, Symbian. "Symbian is delighted to partner with Openwave, a leading provider of mobile browser technology and gateway infrastructure, and collaborate on bringing the Openwave MIDAS technology and Mercury Browser to the ever-growing Symbian ecosystem."