Sony Ericsson Bails on Symbian

The first two things I agree, but Symbian is losing too much ground to both Android and Apple.


However right now Symbian truly feels like a backup OS looking ahead to 2011.


Take the N8, it may be a great device down the road, but all (early reviews) are pointing that camera enthusiasts aside it's not looking to be the "Flagship" phone at launch.


The new browser for instance can't come soon enough. If the new browser never makes it into the N8/e7/ETC... down the road on a future update, S^3 (even as a mid-range backup) will be screwed... :doh:
 
At this point I think Nokia's OS strategy is doomed. Windows Phone 7 will probably be the last nail in the coffin. You already have Android and iOS which have been a huge success. Developers are going to be reluctant to develop for a third platform anyway, but Microsoft knows vastly more about creating a successful OS than Nokia. And all the advance word seems to be that WP7 is impressive certainly more so than S^3.

Nokia really needed to have a competitive touch OS by end 2009 and end 2010 at the very latest. 2011 is just going to be too late. My guess is they will flounder around with S3/S4/Meego for a couple of years and then switch to Android and/or Windows Phone.
 
I don't think Meego will save Nokia. Let's assume it's a superb OS with a UI on par with Android. Given Nokia's track record this is not likely but let's assume it anyway. Will that save Nokia? IMO no because it will be simply be too far behind in the applications/developer support game and won't be able to catch up. Nokia suffers from two big disadvantages. It's a hardware company competing with companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft which have enormous expertise in developing software. And secondly it's a European company competing with 3 US giants and the heart of the software industry remains in the US where Nokia is very weak.

Nokia's biggest advantage is its large volumes and it could perhaps use that by pushing Meego on a large number of devices but that doesn't appear likely. Instead it's probably going to fragment its market with S3/S4/Meego. As of now there is little clarity about which devices will be getting what which further deters developers.

Nokia's strategy has been pure stupidity with a complete lack of focus. Their biggest mistake was to waste time and effort producing multiple OS's. If they had concentrated on producing a single world-class touch OS they might haved achieved it by today and possibly even by last year. By 2011 I think it's will be too late. I guess we will have to wait and see.

All this isn't to say that Nokia as a company is doomed. They still produce some great hardware and their global distribution system is excellent. I think it's quite likely they could thrive by adopting Android/Windows Phone especially if they do it quickly.
 
exactly. there were better OS technically in every way than Mac and Windows (Mach OS, BE OS) yet they never caught on because they were too far behind in creating an ecosystem. Palm is in this positions, so is Meego. Symbian is a transition OS. I suspect that within three years Nokia will have put it's wood behind the Windows and or Android Ecosystems. If they are smart they will make this difficult transition sooner rather than later.
 
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/01/samsung-terminates-support-for-symbian-development/


abandon-ship.jpg
 
I haven't been here for a while, but just couldn't help myself from adding my .02.

Ya know, Nokia was, and is, under no obligation to provide any sort of services to go along with Symbian. They're just not.

On the other hand, because they don't provide any services to go along with Symbian, it means that you can call all their talk of Openness and collaboration to be the BS that it really is. Sure, the OS is open, and anyone can make a nice Symbian phone, but Nokia holds bits back and not everyone can make a phone that's on par with Nokia offers.

In a few years, I'm sure everyone is going to be shocked... shocked!... when it's revealed that Nokia only opened Symbian to get out of contractual problems which could arise from having people who worked on Symbian projects work on Ovi projects. I mean, they were being paid by these outside vendors (SE and Samsung) for the usage of Symbian, so who's to say that they couldn't have made claims to Ovi as well. "Opening" symbian solved that dilemma.

So, yeah, Nokia is under no obligations to provide any services. On the other hand, I don't really think they care if Symbian is used by anyone else or not. It's always been, and always will continue to be, a Nokia OS.

Oh, and as for the simpletons who claim that there's no money to be made in making phones with Android... isn't that what Dell does with Windows? HP? Lenovo? From what I have seen, they somehow manage to make money and stay in business.
 
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