Motorola moves away from Symbian

 

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By Matt Whipp

Posted on 29 Aug 2003 at 11:52

Motorola is to transfer its shares in mobile platform provider Symbian to Psion and Nokia, leaving each with a more than 30 per cent interest.

Pertti Korhonen, executive vice president, Nokia Mobile Software, said: 'The investment shows Nokia's continued support to Symbian as a strong independent software licensing company and to its stable development as smart phones move towards the volume market.'

Nokia's Series 60 operating system for mobile phones is based on the Symbian platform and is licensed by a number of major handset manufacturers.

Motorola's move will perhaps be seen as less optimistic regarding demand for smart phones. Its shedding of its investment suggests it is taking a cautious view of 3G and will concentrate of Java services for the 2.5G GPRS market, which is just hitting its stride.

'As a Symbian licensee, Motorola will continue to support the Symbian OS for specific customer and business needs, such as in our 3G devices. However, our primary software focus for the mass market will stay centered on Java,' said Scott Durchslag, corporate vice president of Motorola's Personal Communications Sector.

Even so, Motorola is far from turning its back on 3G, and yesterday launched its first Symbian-based phone - the A920 - jointly developed with 3G network operator 3. It will be available in the UK next month.

Although subject to a variety of clearance procedures, the stock transaction could be complete within a matter of weeks. It is expected to give Psion a 31 per cent in Symbian, and Nokia 32 per cent, with Symbian as a whole valued at £300mn.