Openwave Systems has announced the shipment of the 400 millionth handset using its WAP browser. The company also noted growth in its worldwide browser market share and surprising strength in messaging client and third-generation WAP2 product upgrades.

Openwave also expanded its customer base in Asia, adding seven new phone software customers in that market and bringing its total to 47 manufacturers worldwide.

According to independent third party research firm CMS, in the most recent quarter Openwave also increased its total worldwide unit volume share in the browser category from 50% to 51%.

"We continue to move our phone software business forward by creating new products, specifically V7 and our messaging client, which leverage our long expertise and are built upon our strong browser technology base," said Thomas Reardon, vice president and general manager, Openwave. "By shipping in more than 100 million handsets since late last year, we can be found in more than 50 percent of all data enabled phones shipping worldwide today."

Openwave shipped the world's first WAP 2 browser during 2001 in Japan, where the software is used by half of all wireless data subscribers there.

Now into its third generation of premium WAP2 browser technology, Openwave has shipped more than 45 WAP2 phone models in every wireless market around the world and representing 25 million units shipped. Successful new mobile data services such as Sprint PCS Vision, KDDI "au" and Vodafone live! are based on WAP2 technology.

The technology behind Openwave Mobile Browser Version 6 also powers the MMS user experience on many mass market mobile phones. Openwave Mobile Messaging Client is an optional add-on for Openwave Mobile Browser Version 6 and Version 7.

Designed to drive mobile data usage by providing a common user experience across messaging, browsing, calendar, address book and other phone applications, Openwave Mobile Messaging Client offers a flexible and feature rich solution enabling operators to offer services such as photo messaging, multimedia communication, and rich third party content.

As photo messaging services continue to proliferate and gain in popularity, 12 handset manufacturers have selected Openwave Mobile Messaging Client for more than 20 devices targeted to ship before year-end.

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