Nokia Back Take Over Full Symbian

Helsinki, Finland - Nokia Oyj will assume full control of the Symbian operating system, asset management retake key provided in the "open source community" to operate only a few years ago.

Nokia said on Monday (8 / 11) will take care of "platform" development from April 2011, while cross-industry Symbian Foundation will only take care of software licensing in the future.
Nokia bought by other shareholders in Symbian in 2008 and opened software for any manufacturer to use the base "open source." However, it failed to win widespread adoption and this year Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson left behind to support the Google Android.

"For other licenses leave Symbian, Nokia has little choice but to take full control," said Ben Wood, research head at CCS Insight.

Finnish phone maker continues to be a key contributor to software development and has created 95 percent of Symbian phone sales volume.

"It's a natural evolution for Symbian. The success of Nokia in the market" smartphone "lower middle is forcing competitors to use Android or Microsoft," said John Strand, founder and head of the Danish telecommunications consultancy Strand Consult.

"After Samsung and Sony Ericsson Symbian withdraw their support, it's likely only a matter of time before Nokia Symbian become the de facto operating system only," said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst with MKM Partners.

"I believe there are signs of Nokia Symbian development to reduce pressure and put more pressure on the back Meego for 2011, it is possible that Nokia is now turning to force maintenance with Symbian as a substitute for expanding aggressively," he said.

Symbian continued leadership in mobile phone market with 37 percent market share in the third quarter, but this rate fell two years ago.

According to research firm Canalys, Symbian's closest competitor, Google Android, has 17 percent of the market last quarter, just ahead of Apple.

Nokia shares rose from earlier lows and closed 0.2 percent lower in Helsinki, according to Reuters.