For those who are wondering why they have not heard much about the Symbian operating system in the past few weeks, it is because the mobile platform has been sitting deep in the sidelines ever since the news about the Bada and the Maemo came out.
Originally, Finnish manufacturer Nokia is the foremost supporter of the Symbian Foundation (they are a part of it), but despite the manufacturer’s close ties to the developers, it did not stop them from adapting a completely new and different OS for their main N-series line. While Nokia’s sales are not dependent on the N-series, that line of mobile phones does represent the company’s best achievements in terms of mobile innovation and technology –these phones are the face of Nokia’s brand.
Last year, rumors about Nokia and Samsung dropping the Symbian OS spread like wildfire when it was announced that the N-series would be using only the Maemo OS from then on.
Nokia was quick to deny the allegations that they would be dropping their long time partner and announced that they will continue to use the Symbian OS. Another major phone manufacturer, Sony Ericsson, continues to produce high end Symbian devices such as the Vizaz and the Kanna.
Now, it has been announced that the Symbian will become an open source platform and will be offering developers so much more access to the system code and specifications. Originally, the Symbian was to shift to open source in four month’s time. It appears that financial and marketing factors have forced the foundation to play their hand earlier. Statistics show that the Symbian is continuously losing its market share in the mobile phone industry while its main competitor, the Google Android, is continuously growing.
Read more about the Symbian OS and the market analysis of the Android and Symbian’s market shares at the Times Online UK.
