Symbian

Nokia completes acquisition of Symbian

Paul Mah — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:26:19 -0500

Nokia has completed the acquisition of the world's biggest smartphone operating system company, according to Symbian Limited, the software company that develops and licenses the Symbian OS. Yes, that means Nokia now owns more than 99.9 percent of the above-mentioned company, having purchased the requisite shares from shareholders such as Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola, among other former shareholders. As part of the changes, all Symbian employees are also planned to become Nokia employees as of February 1, 2009.

With the acquisition in place, the establishment of the announced Symbian Foundation looks set for smooth sailing. This also means that the first handsets based on the open-sourced Symbian operating system appear to be on track for the slated releases in 2010, as announced previously. For those new to the scene, the Symbian Foundation will consists of companies such as AT&T, Texas Instruments, Motorola and others, and is formed for joint work to create a royalty-free operating system.

With the fast moving mobile and smartphone landscape, it's still up in the air whether or not this deal can stunt the growth of other mobile platforms, notably that of Apple's the iPhone, and Google's own open-sourced Android platform.

To read more about this story:
- check out this article from CNET News
- check out this article from Unwired View

Nokia to lay off 600 employees

Paul Mah — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:13:37 -0500

Things might not be so rosy over at phone-maker Nokia. The number-one handset maker in the world announced Tuesday that it plans to cut about 600 employees. Nokia cited a weakening worldwide economy and the presence of new competitors as the reason for its move. Reflecting the company's shrinking market share, hundreds of these people will come from its headquarters in Finland, and about 130 people who do long-term research at the Nokia Research Center will be shown the door as well. This announcement comes on the heels of Nokia's third quarter financial report, which showed a drop of 28 percent in earnings, and a drop of 5 percent in revenue compared to last year. The company isn't staying still either, in June Nokia announced that it will buy all of Symbian and release the platform in an open-source model.

For more about Nokia's reduction of its workforce:
- check out this article from NetworkWorld

Related Article:
Nokia to buy all of Symbian

Open-sourced Symbian questioned

Paul Mah — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:52:50 -0400

Richard Windsor, a research analyst for technology and communication equipment at Nomura International, questioned whether Nokia's move to open source the Symbian platform a "win" for everyone involved. In the wake of Nokia's acquisition of Symbian Limited, the Finnish phone giant announced its plans to open source the venerable Symbian operating system.

While the move bodes well for the Symbian platform, non-Nokia licensees like Sony Ericsson will have "a massive disadvantage against Nokia," noted Windsor. One of the reasons is that its sheer volume allows Nokia to sell S60-based hardware at a staggering 40 percent lower price than its competitors. This may be the reason Sony Ericsson came up with phones based on Windows Mobile, such as the Xperia X1 Smartphone, which was unveiled earlier this year.

To read more on the issue of open sourcing the Symbian platform:
- check out this EETimes.com article

Symbian S60 5th Edition released

Paul Mah — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:46:55 -0400

Nokia's new touch-screen phone, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, will be powered by the newly released Symbian S60 operating system, 5th Edition. Besides building upon the Internet experience of earlier editions, the S60 5th Edition adds a touch user interface and sensor technology. Other additions to the OS would be enhanced resolution support, including widescreen mode, as well as video and photo editing features. In addition, support for open-source technology was also expanded via integrated support for Open C++. If this is your cup of tea, the 5th Edition SDK and associated tools for developers can be downloaded via the Forum Nokia website.

For more on the S60 5th Edition:
- check out this InformationWeek article

Symbian open to further ties with Google

Paul Mah — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:35:54 -0400

Smartphone software maker Symbian hinted that it could expand its collaboration with Google all the way to the operating system level. Nigel Clifford, Symbian chief executive, told reporters that Symbian "will be happy" to collaborate with Google whenever the opportunity presents itself. He added, "And that could be on the application level or that could be on the more fundamental operating system level." Google applications such as its maps and search engines are currently used by Symbian, of which 47.9 percent is owned by mobile phone giant Nokia. Over 200 million phones run on the Symbian operating system at the moment and Nokia wants to increase that with a bold $410 million plan to buy out the other shareholders of Symbian before making it available, royalty free, to other phone makers.

For more on mobile mail:
- check out this Washington Post article

Nokia to buy all of Symbian

Paul Mah — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:33:24 -0400

Nokia has announced that it will offer to acquire the remaining 52 percent of Symbian Limited. Control of Symbian Limited, a software company formed to develop and license the Symbian OS, effectively gives Nokia sole control of the market-leading operating system for mobile devices.

Already, irrevocable undertakings have been secured from most of the other key owners--representing 91 percent of non-Nokia shares. Post-acquisition, Nokia intends to establish the Symbian Foundation, which will be instrumental to move the Symbian platform to open source over the next two years. You can read the press release announcing the Symbian Foundation here (pdf).

For more on Nokia's Symbian acquisition:
- check out this MobileMonday blog

Trustchip encrypts GSM calls with 256-bit AES

Paul Mah — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:22:28 -0400

A new security product designed to block eavesdropping at the Telco-level will be out before the end of the year. Called the Trustchip, it comes with its own built-in encryption engine and 32-bit RISC processor, all packed into a MicroSD-sized package. The Trustchip apparently will work with both Symbian and Windows Mobile phones, and its ease of use has been hailed as its selling point. To encrypt your calls with 256-bit AES, only one Trustchip needs to be plugged into the phones of the parties wishing to communicate. The benefit is that this is much more convenient compared to conventional secure mobile phones that require specialist hardware.

For more about the Trustchip:
- check out the The Inquirer article

Windows Mobile 7: coming late 2009?

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

We've been hearing about Windows Mobile 7 for quite some time now, heck, we've even seen a few leaked screenshots. Despite these facts, the next step for Windows Mobile (not counting 6.1, of course) has always seemed a bit far off and that point was underlined this past week when a few journalists were lucky enough to get their hands on the new OS at a Microsoft MVP event. In a blog post that has since been redacted (apparently some folks mistook informed speculation for fact), PocketNow detailed its experience with WinMo7, which is said to "basically [address] everything wrong with WM6 today." The problem, however, is that based on target release dates, we might not see the new OS until "mid to late 2009." That gives Apple, RIM, Palm and Symbian yet another year to make inroads into the enterprise market while Microsoft sits on the sidelines. This really can't be helped, however: unlike the closed ecosystem that is the iPhone, Windows Mobile relies on a vast network of OEM, carrier and developer partners, who will need months to test, embed and develop for the new OS before it can go out the door. That is, unless, Microsoft leveraged a recent purchase in order to produce its own native mobile hardware... but that, of course, is just wild speculation.

For more on Windows Mobile 7:
- see this Gizmodo article

Google domination designs

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:59:56 -0500

It's not that Google wants to put out just another mobile wireless product--the search-engine giant has designs to change the nature of the wireless market. There's a big 700Mhz spectrum auction coming up, and no one knows how that will turn out, but with Android, Google has created a Linux-driven center of gravity for the wireless market to orbit. The operating system, which will power devices that compete with systems running the Symbian, Palm, and Windows Mobile operating systems, is intended to change the way the market functions--regardless of whether the radio in the device runs on 2G, 3G, or 4G.

For more on Google's wireless prospects:
- Read the market analysis at WirelessWeek

Symantec's mobile security suite not up to snuff

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:58 -0500

Symantec is a trusted name in enterprise security and its products keep many an IT department under lock and key. So you can't really argue with the assumption that the company's latest mobile security product--Mobile Security Suite 5.0--offers a similarly comprehensive solution for the mobile side of the enterprise. But you would be wrong. According to an eWeek review of the product, Symantec still has some work left to do, in terms of producing an enterprise-class mobile security solution. The most glaring mistake, according to eWeek, was the decision to market separate solutions for Windows Mobile and Symbian--as opposed to one comprehensive solution. "Symantec's Mobile Security Suite 5.0 provides a good mix of security features for devices based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0, but the product ultimately misses the mark due to clumsy management tools and a complete lack of integrated cross-platform support that would certainly be compelling in an increasingly crowded but compartmentalized marketplace."

For more on Mobile Security Suite 5.0:
- read the eWeek review