Wireless: Can a 'free' business attract investors

Wireless: Can a 'free' business attract investors? - Technology - International Herald Tribune: 'Trolltech, a 12-year-old Norwegian company that makes software development tools for mobile phones and personal computers, was doing "open source" software long before it went by that name.

Now, the company will see if investors are attracted to a business model based on "free" as much as its 4,500 commercial customers seem to be. Two weeks ago, Trolltech filed for an initial public stock offering on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Trolltech's software has already been used by some well-known technology companies, like Adobe, Google, Opera and Skype. On the mobile phone side, Motorola is its biggest customer, and that's where Chambe-Eng sees Trolltech's future, particularly in China, where it counts ZTE, Datang and Ningbo Bird among its clients.

Over the past five years, Trolltech has seen average revenue growth of 42 percent, with the United States and Germany as the company's biggest markets, Chambe-Eng said. The number of employees has grown to 180 from 94 in the past year and a half, and the target is 250 by the end of the year.

Trolltech last week cited its growth as a factor in its financial loss. It recorded a net loss of 1 million Norwegian kroner, or $163,000, for 2005, in contrast to a net profit of 7.4 million kroner the previous year, largely because of increased marketing costs and expansion, the company said. Sales grew to 119 million kroner from 85 million kroner.

Still, in mobile phone software, Trolltech's Linux-based Qtopia tools are up against formidable competition: Microsoft and Nokia, which controls the Symbian system. And Linux phones have yet to take off outside Asia."