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Two views from across the pond.

AS GOOGLE'S Android struggles to make it into concrete products, Nokia has probably dealt it a knockout blow by buying Symbian entirely and helping to take the whole Symbian ecosystem open source.

Nokia has enlisted the support of other Symbian investors and supporters to unite all the disparate elements of the handset OS into one single, open platform under the umbrella of the Symbian Foundation.

Sony Ericsson is adding in its UIQ user interface to the Foundation; Nokia is putting in its S60 (Series 60) platform as well as Symbian, and japan's NTT Docomo is providing its MOAP(S) assests.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ … ckout-blow

Analysis Ten years ago to the day, I attended the surprise foundation of Symbian. I was in Norway and sorry to miss the event today that closed the chapter - and probably the book - on the great adventure.

I find it exquisitely ironic that the philosophy behind the decision to end Symbian's independent existence as a joint-ownership, for-profit consortium has its roots in the Microsoft antitrust trial. Symbian was created because the leading phone manufacturers desperately wanted to avoid Microsoft's desktop monopoly being extended to mobile devices. They didn't want a dependency on high license fees, rigid requirements and poor code.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/24 … n_symbian/

Also: Swap to 'Open' for Symbian won't be immediate