| Author |
P900 the last Symbian phone? |
dworld
Joined: Mar 15, 2004
Posts: 13
PM |
Looks like the P900 might be the last Sony Ericsson phone to use the Symbian OS.
...... recently, Nokia purchased Symbian from Psion and now fully
controls the Symbian Operating System.
Since most companies don't really like their fate to be controlled by their
#1 competitor, we feel it's very unlikely that Sony Ericsson will continue
to design and build future smartphone models based on the Symbian OS. They
may finish the models they're currently working on and release them, but we
feel it's more likely they'll switch to Palm OS or Windows CE where the OS
won't be fully controlled by their competitor and they'll then be able to
work closely together with the company that controls the roadmap of their
future operating system.
We feel this move by Nokia will also eventually turn the Symbian OS into a
proprietary OS found only on Nokia phones some day. According to other
developers we've talked to, it appears the rest of the industry also
believes that should this ever happen, most developers won't spend the high
cost of developing their software for one particular OS for just one
exclusive company, and for one model-line of phones. The return on the
investment would simply be too low to be profitable for most software
products (actually for all but the top 4 or 5 best selling products). If
this should happen and few products get developed for Symbian OS, they will
then be surpassed by other operating systems that continue to encourage
third party software development for smartphones. |
|
|
Red_Five
Joined: Jan 19, 2004
Posts: 95
From: UK
PM |
Actually, Nokia haven't bought Symbian from Psion.
Psion's shareholders have given Psion the Ok to sell it's share of Symbian to Nokia. This sale hasn't actually happened yet, as other Symbian stakeholders could step in to block it.
Even if the sale does go ahead, although Nokia will hold a majority share of Symbian, it won't be enough of a majority for it to take absolute control. |
dworld
Joined: Mar 15, 2004
Posts: 13
PM |
Good... hope your right!!! |
anonymuser
Joined: Dec 17, 2002
Posts: > 500
PM |
who's we? have a look at this -
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/36232.html
basically, it's true that symbian (and particularly UIQ) is in a state of flux at the moment, but by no means certain that SE are going to abandon it. SE like UIQ and they want to continue using it, they just need some guarantees from Nokia about UIQ's continuing independence - and for the good of Symbian (and therefore their own devices) it's very much in Nokia's interests to give them.
|
Jim-bob
Joined: Mar 09, 2004
Posts: 151
PM |
"The success of the P900 arguably gives Sony another of these. Unlike its geeky predecessor the P800, the P900 is proving to be a fashionable item that provides just enough PDA for people who might not otherwise consider two devices."
LOL - "geeky predecessor". Just as well I traded my P800 for a P900 then  |
zentro
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
Posts: 41
From: Denmark
PM |
Well, if SE abandons Symbian I hope they opt for PalmOS instead of Pocket PC. Sony already make excellent PalmOS-based PDAs (Clié) and they could use this knowledge to create a killer smartphone.
The Handspring Treo 600 is a great unit but I think SE could do even better if they put their minds to it.
|
dworld
Joined: Mar 15, 2004
Posts: 13
PM |
Got the following from a Software company regarding writing software for the Symbian OS and how the Nokia take over effects there thinking.
Since it's a private correspondence I've replaced the companies name with *****
---------------------------------------------
We do know that the Nokia/Symbian deal is fairly certain at this point in
time, with the last stages of finalizing the deal left up to the approval of
government regulators. We don't believe the regulators will deny the deal,
however.
The other remaining issue is that other companies that hold shares in
Symbian can optionally increase their shares, too, in this sale, but only
proportionate to the shares they currently own. Even if all other companies
agreed to increase their shares, it's doubtful that they could prevent Nokia
from obtaining over 50% total number of shares, giving them control over the
OS (despite Symbian's claims that their bylaws prevent this -- having over
50% ownership control over Symbian might even allow Nokia the legal ability
to change their bylaws -- this is a tricky area that only Nokia's attorneys
will know the likely outcome.)
But you are correct in that it is not quite a 'done deal' yet. Friday's
vote by Psion's shareholders make it appear to be a fairly certain deal at
this point in time, however. See the following article that makes it
sound a little more certain:
http://www.netimperative.com/[....]all&docid=BEP1_News_0000063278
But as with ownership and control of any business...things can always (and
often do) change!
It doesn't help our concerns with our preliminary decision to rewrite
****** to support Sony Ericsson's p800/p900 (and hopefully future
Symbian-based models) when Sony Ericsson just recently released two new
phones that are not Symbian based. Bottom line is that we don't want to
spend $250,000 in development costs for creating the product for one phone
model that might return $10-20,000 on that investment, and then have that
particular phone model become obsolete the month before we release the
product...then later find out that the software we wrote won't run on any
future models because that company changed operating systems.
So to answer your original question, unless something in the Symbian market
changes significantly regarding what looks like will eventually become a
Nokia controlled operating system, it's unlikely we'll be writing
******* for the p800/p900 (it would perhaps take over a year to write it
for those models and by then, most of those users will have moved up to a
new model, and if those newer models are not a Symbian based, then we won't
have many customers for that product, causing the entire project to lose a
lot of money.)
|
senninha
Joined: Jan 05, 2003
Posts: > 500
PM |
i personally am hoping that SE switches over to the Palm OS. i fully agree with zentro when he says that he thinks SE could do a much better job than handspring did with the treo, especially with sony already having a lot of palm experience with their clie line.
if SE goes palm, then just think of all the software titles that would be available...
|
zentro
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
Posts: 41
From: Denmark
PM |
i really liked the idea of Symbian not being controlled by one single company, so Nokias takeover is a real shame...
ironically, Palm has gone the other way and spun off its OS in Palmsource which is probably the right way to go, imo. |
dw
Joined: Mar 13, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sweden
PM, WWW
|
If  moves from Symbian I really hope they go for
Linux instead. If every gonna use MS software I'll abandon the
brand.
Saying that... I really don't think gonna leave Symbian/UIQ anytime soon. They have invested much in it.
|
zentro
Joined: Feb 26, 2004
Posts: 41
From: Denmark
PM |
Yup, no Pocket PC in my phone, please!
|
senninha
Joined: Jan 05, 2003
Posts: > 500
PM |
i agree, too much MS in our lives as it is!!!!!!!!! |
ppcrockar
Joined: Mar 04, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sweden
PM |
I know that SE is pushing hard to get UIQ as a SymbianOS "standard" as a complement to Series60. With some luck we might even see UIQ phones from Siemens, Samsung and maybe even Nokia (with a lot of luck). |
paulince
Joined: Mar 12, 2004
Posts: 129
PM |
i would like to see SE leave symbian. Because quite frankly i am bored with the UI when i got my p900 i knew how to use it their was no new discoverment like when i moved to the p800 from my....7210 i had a lot to learn and i enjoyed learning it. So if SE go with a different OS it would make the P1000 even more significant and as long as the UI is functional and has lots of great apps and is not worse than the Symbian OS i can say i wont be tooo demolarised by such a change. It may even be a blessing in disguise. |
bbasra
Joined: May 22, 2002
Posts: 467
From: London, UK
PM |
Well, President Katsumi Ihara has said that there were "negotiations" to secure the future of Symbian...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/36121.html
|
|
|
Posted: 2004-03-15 00:21
