Ok, this next story may have well have got drowned out in all the shouting about the Nokia N97 (yes, that included me going, “Want one, want one, want one!“), but the release of the smartphone powerhouse wasn’t the only news Nokia had to tell us yesterday.
According to the Boy Genius Report, Nokia also confirmed that their full acquisition of Symbian has now gone through. So, no more wrangling, no more negotiations, Nokia’s now in charge of the Symbian universe.
Which means what, exactly?
Well, the plan was always for Nokia to buy Symbian and then donate it wholesale to the Symbian Foundation, thus setting up a brand new open source operating system to bring about a new breed of mobile phones and take on, basically, Google Android. With the news that Nokia have finalised their buyout, we’re that bit closer to seeing Symbian Foundation mobile phones on the market.
Perhaps now is a good time to remind everyone why that’s important, and why, I reckon, Symbian Foundation is the most important thing to happen to mobile phones, ever.
The first lesson is easy: power. Take one look at the Nokia N97, or even the Nokia 5800, its keyboard-less little brother, and you’ll see just how powerful Symbian is. The version they use, S60 Touch, is going to be one of the key components of the new fledgling Foundation OS, so pay close attention to it, and you’ll get hints of what to expect (hint: something mind-blowingly brilliant, just like the Nokia N97 and Nokia 5800 are). And since I’ve fallen a bit in love with the S60 Touch interface, I can pretty assure you I’ll like it!
The second important thing: the new Foundation operating system will be open source, just like Google Android, meaning anyone can write software for it, or even change the base software, however they want. So, it will get more awesome than it starts out at, at launch, as people write new tools and new apps for it. And considering that even launch mobile phones will rock, that gives you some idea of how good it will be when it gets even better…
And the final important thing: the sheer number of companies already signed up to the Symbian Foundation. As it stands at the minute, fifty-six separate companies have signed up (including Nokia, obviously), and that list includes all but one of the five main UK networks, all but one of the big five mobile phone manufacturers in the world, and various other massive names like Opera Software, EA Mobile and Visa.
Basically, with Nokia finalising their Symbian buy, I don’t reckon it’s understating it to say that the future has just started happening…
Want the current best Symbian phone ever made? Sign up for alerts and we’ll email you when the Nokia N97 is released!
