What's going on with Nokia's smartphone OS?

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 30 Nov 2009 at 10:43

Nokia's smartphone strategy has been plunged into confusion, following reports that the company only plans to introduce one Linux-based device next year.

The world's biggest smartphone maker launched its first Maemo Linux-based device, the Nokia N900, earlier this year. That led to speculation that Nokia would sideline its Symbian OS in favour of Linux across its high-end N Series.

However, a source at Nokia has told the news agency Reuters that the company will only launch a single Maemo Linux handset next year. "We remain firmly committed to Symbian as our smartphone platform of choice," the Nokia spokesman said.

Nokia's Symbian OS has begun to look dated in comparison to rivals such as Apple's iPhone OS and Google's Android, which could partly explain why the company has seen sales fall by 20% year-on-year.

Gartner has predicted that Android will become the second biggest smartphone OS by 2012, behind Nokia's Symbian, which will continue to lose market share.

Nokia is believed to be working on a new version of the Symbian OS, although it's likely to be late next year before we see the fruits of its labour.