Nokia Release Source code for S60 WebKit

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Nokia announced the release to the global open source software community of the source code for S60 WebKit, the engine for its leading-edge Web Browser for S60, marking a turning point in the drive toward an open code base for web browsers used on mobile devices.

Nokia's contribution of the S60 WebKit source code, with key mobility enhancements that make WebKit easier to port to different mobile platforms, will enable reduced fragmentation in the next generation of mobile browsers, simplifying content development for the mobile web and accelerating adoption of mobile browsing by millions of smartphone users worldwide.

Nokia's open sourcing of the engine to its high-performance S60 mobile browser, which replicates on handheld devices the true web-page rendering of complete desktop browsers, marks the start of a collaborative open source effort that will enable smartphone users industry-wide to push beyond the millions of mobile-friendly pages currently on the web and begin to experience full web browsing of the estimated 25 billion pages on the Internet today.

Nokia's recently launched Web Browser for S60 enables full mobile browsing of complete web pages as they exist on the Internet, leveraging compatibility with AJAX technologies and support for dynamic HTML and scripting language. The release of source code for the S60 Webkit browser engine, based on WebCore and JavaScriptCore components of Apple's award-winning Safari browser, will be accompanied by Nokia's active participation with the open source community in developing further enhancements to the browser, sharing changes to the core browser engine as they are made in real time.

In addition to its modular, extensible architecture and open interfaces, key features of the code that Nokia is contributing to the open source community include:
- Memory manager, designed specifically to handle out-of-memory situations on the device;
- Mouse Pointer, delivering a desktop-like navigation experience;
- Frames rendered as tables;
- Full support for "Text Search" capabilities;
- Reference UI, a reference implementation of standard browser user-interface features;
- Full mobility support for dynamic HTML and the scripting language that enables it; and,
- Preservation on mobile screens of original designer-intended web page layouts, with text custom-fitted to the mobile display width.
The first Nokia devices to include the Web browser for S60 will be ESeries (E60, E61 and E70) and NSeries devices (N71, N73, N80, N91, N92 and N93), as well as the Nokia 3250 Phone. Shipment of select models has already begun and others will come available throughout the remainder of the second quarter.

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