Open Source Phone Development
Symbian is getting completely bought by Nokia (who already has about 50% of the Symbian stock) and partnering up with several other telephone, headset, hardware, and software vendors to make Symbian a open source development platform for those that are members of the soon to be functional Symbian foundation. PC World story here, The Independent story here, ZD Net story here, CNet story here, and Information Week story here.
This means that with some patent permission from the Symbian foundation developers will be able to make apps and tools for phones. This will really put some pressure for Google’s forthcoming Android (which is open sourced, but does not have the same class AA partners as Symbian / Nokia). Regardless of which platform wins out (Symbian or Android), I think this puts a second or third nail into Microsoft’s phone development platform. The new Apple Iphone, and it’s development tools, will be formidable for both open source platforms, but long term I think a open source platform may end up winning. Which platform Symbian (established, long running standard, and vetted) or Android (new, unformed, Google powered / backed, free) will win though would be a hard guess for anyone though.
