Jump to content

Symbian in crisis as Samsung withdraws support


nsane.forums

Recommended Posts

nsane.forums

Samsung to halt Symbian developer support at the end of the year

Samsung is dropping support for Symbian developers in a move that casts further doubt on the future of the smartphone platform.

The news follows Sony Ericsson's earlier disclosure that it has no plans for any further Symbian phones, and effectively leaves Nokia as the only major patron of the platform.

In a message on Samsung's Mobile Innovator web site, the firm notified Symbian developers that it will discontinue its Symbian support service from 31 December, and all content will be removed from the site.

The news does not necessarily mean that Samsung will never produce another Symbian handset, but the company, a former shareholder of Symbian Ltd, is instead focusing efforts into other platforms such as its own Bada software, Android and the upcoming Windows Phone 7.

Sony Ericsson's position is similar, having announced this week that it is still a member of the Symbian Foundation, but has no further Symbian products in the pipeline at this time.

The moves leave Nokia as effectively the sole vendor of Symbian phones, although the Finnish company is said to favour the Meego platform, co-developed with Intel, for high-end devices to compete against the iPhone and Android.

Symbian still accounts for over 40 per cent of all smartphones sold, according to recent figures, but the defection of vendors to other platforms such as Android is making its future seem increasingly uncertain.

Contrary to popular belief, Nokia does not own Symbian; the platform is open source and maintained by the non-profit Symbian Foundation.

view.gif View: Original Article

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Views 505
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...