Accenture to acquire Nokia's Symbian professional service operations

Accenture has signed an agreement to acquire the professional services unit of Nokia, which is responsible for Symbian customer engineering and customer support. The Symbian operating system is the world's most widely used platform for smartphones.

The unit provides engineering consulting and product development services to mobile phone manufacturers, chip manufacturers and mobile operators globally. The services include advanced technical support; innovative device-tuning techniques for enhancing the performance, memory and power of mobile devices; advanced error diagnosis and repair; and turnkey software development services that can be used in a range of technical environments.

As a result of the agreement, around 165 Nokia professional services engineers and consultants in the U.K., Finland, Japan, Korea and Australia are expected to transfer to Accenture. "The capabilities we are acquiring from Nokia will help support the tremendous growth our clients can expect from the explosive adoption of converged mobile multimedia services and will expand Accenture's role as a key supplier of new tools, products and solutions to clients in this industry," said Jean Laurent Poitou, Managing Director, Electronics and High Tech Industry Group, Accenture.

"This agreement allows the Symbian professional services team to realize its full potential in the supply of independent services to the open-source ecosystem. In combination with Accenture's strong brand, global sales organization and broad technology skills, the unit's software engineering capabilities will be a significant benefit to customers throughout the industry. The transaction underscores Nokia's commitment to the open-source community and the Symbian ecosystem," said Peter Ropke, Senior Vice President, Devices, Nokia. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close within 60 - 90 days.