Nokia has bought Symbian a few hours ago(via Reuters), and plans to release a “Symbian mashup” as open source in the next two years(via AllAboutSymbian).
As the two links above contain all that there is to say about the topic, I will rather look into the consequences and motivations surrounding this affair – bear with me…
TamsS60 has identified Linux as a threat to Symbian-based phones a few months ago. Unlike most other platforms, most Symbian phone purchases don’t happen because the user wants an S60 phone. Instead, he just buys what’s hip – and this may incidentally run S60.
This has huge implications: while a Palm OS or Windows Mobile user will be reluctant to accept a Linux phone (due to his HUGE library of applications that can easily be worth 500$ or more), the average S60 user (who definitely won’t be reading this) couldn’t care less.
Manufacturers know this, and will enjoy the opportunity to save a few dollars per shipped device…which could be bad for Symbian. Opensourcing the platform will definitely help here…even though it likely is a fatal blow for UIQ(which has just begun to lay off employees).
The real issue IMHO is something else: Symbian is now fully owned by Nokia. Palm originally spun off its OS division(PalmSource) in order to make the platform more interesting for third parties – after buying it up again, all remaining licensees jumped ship quickly(even GSPDA gave up a few weeks ago).
As of now, the folks that should really be concerned are UIQ users – for them, starting the porting process is an absolute must. Seeing that S60 licensees have never been too important, S60 developers can expect at least two more years of peace(if things go like they did at Palm’s)…
What do you think?
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