The Symbian open
mobile platformhas been boosted by the news
that it has attracted the support of an increased number of device
manufacturers, software and service providers
The foundation has revealed that it has attracted the support of
a number of
new members, specifically Acrodea, Brycen, HI Corporation,
Ixonos, KTF, Opera Software, Sharp, TapRoot Systems and UIQ
Technology.
By the end of 2008, the Symbian Foundation will be
acquired by Nokia and software assets will be contributed to
the foundation. These will include Symbian OS and S60 by Nokia, UIQ
technology by Motorola and Sony Ericsson and MOAP(S) by NTT DOCOMO
and Fujitsu. This contributed software will be available under a
royalty-free license to foundation members from the first day of
Symbian Foundation operations.
The Foundation will work to unify the platform, with the first
unified foundation release expected in 2009 and the platform will
likely be available in open source by June 2010.
In that last three months, ,40 companies have confirmed
commitment to the initiative in addition to founding members
AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung
Electronics, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments
and Vodafone.
"The mobile phone industry is a very dynamic industry that
continues to evolve and develop" said Mats Lindoff, Sony Ericsson
Chief Technology Officer, on behalf of the initial board members.
"We are happy to see that so many developers and partners in the
industry have expressed their support for the plans for the Symbian
Foundation, as this will help drive the next level of innovation
needed to deliver new user experiences on mobile phones."