Could Nokia drop Symbian for Linux?

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000133051683/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000133051683/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Nokia’s practically synonymous with Symbian (they own 47.9% of the company which oversees the mobile OS and release 70% of the Symbian-powered smartphones each year), but the analysts over at ARC think it’s no longer inconceivable that Nokia might dump the OS altogether and port its Series 60 interface to Linux (sort of like how PalmSource is porting the Palm OS to Linux). Their evidence? Nokia’s decision to license Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology directly — even though Symbian had already cut a deal with Redmond — combined with their recent announcement of the 770, a non-cellphone handheld that runs on Linux instead of Symbian..."</i><br /><br />If I recall correctly, Symbian licensed something slightly different than Nokia. They needed to license the backend hooks while Nokia licensed the desktop/user side of it. Does anyone know for sure? I could be mistaken. Regardless of the license issue, could Nokia switch? Sure, but it doesn't really make much sense. What does it say to you, if a company who has the dominate position in the market place, dumps their OS and runs to jump on another bandwagon? Scared?

[Kris Kumar]

Nokia licensed the ActiveSync/Exchange OTA piece (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7610) and the Media Player (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7609) piece.

Still looking for the Symbian deal. :cry:

[Kris Kumar]

Spoke too soon. Found the Symbian - Microsoft deal. (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7924)

Looks like Nokia and Symbian have licensed the same piece from Microsoft. :? So maybe there is some truth to the rumour mills.

[Stinger]

It's amazing what a controversial report can do for the profile of your analyst company. ;)

Just to pick a few holes in the report:

i) The potential licensing fees look high until you realise that Nokia owns ~50% of Symbian. They're basically paying themselves.

ii) I think Microsoft count Symbian OS and Series 60 as seperate entities. Hence, they both need to license ActiveSync in order to use it.

iii) Having a search around, Motorola have released not 2 but 4 phones based on Symbian. One of them has been released by NTT DoCoMo (Japan's largest network operator). Can you name the last Motorola phone that got released on NTT DoCoMo? I certainly can't. Motorola must be kicking themselves that they've managed to penetrate the highly lucrative Japanese market for the first time in ages. ;)

iv) I have no idea what percentage of Symbian apps are written in native C++, but if Smartphone is anything to go by, all of the popular and useful ones will be. Asking developers to totally re-write their applications isn't going to win Nokia any friends.

The whole Microsoft vs. Symbian vs. PalmSource vs. Linux contest is certainly hotting up though. Increased competition can only lead to better smartphones. :D

[Kevin Daly]

It doesn't make a lot of sense (consider the impact on their developer base).
The only thing I can think of that *might* influence things is that the Symbian OS has been getting hit pretty hard by viruses lately, including some rather nasty ones.