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Why you can't ignore Symbian

Analysis: PDA pioneer Symbian is the force behind next-generation, mobile operating systems. Here's why major backers such as Ericsson and Nokia stand behind this sleeper OS--and why you should care.
Written by Jonathan Blackwood, Contributor
Symbian has been somewhat of a sleeper OS in the United States, yet the company shines in European markets as a PDA pioneer. Symbian isn't limited to being just another PDA OS, however; it's now leading the convergence of PDAs and phone technology in the form of smartphones. What's behind Symbian's technology, and why does it represent the future of mobile communications?

Essentially, Symbian is an operating system (OS)--derived from a PDA OS--that is designed specifically for use with advanced mobile phones.

Symbian's backers--originally Ericsson, Nokia, and Motorola (with Matsushita and Siemens joining later, and Sony Ericcson later replacing Ericsson) got together in 1998 to discuss the possibility of replacing the limited, proprietary OSes they each used in their mobile phones with something more feature-rich and robust. Each of the backers knew their existing OSes were rapidly aging and needed to be scrapped.

The group founded Symbian on June 24, 1998, and adopted the UK's Psion Software's (now Symbian) EPOQ operating system as the starting point for the new Symbian OS. The consortium wished to develop a robust, efficient OS tailored to the needs of mobile phones. For a variety of reasons, the group believed that an OS that had been scaled down from a desktop PC OS, such as Windows CE or Pocket PC, was inefficient and inappropriate for the next generation of mobile phones. By the same token, the Palm OS was too limited for what the group had in mind.

Its vision: To provide a robust, standards-based OS that would provide all the APIs needed to allow various manufacturers to innovate. The kernel is written in C++; applications may be written in C++ or Java. A central feature of the OS is its ability to use widely divergent user interfaces (UIs), letting manufacturers to provide a wide variety of devices.

According to a recent Symbian white paper, the company aims to avoid "...the mobile phone market ending up in the same situation as the PC market, with manufacturers having a smaller and smaller role to play, the main design being dictated by the operating system provider."

The result is an extremely robust, 32-bit multi-tasking OS for 2.5G and 3G mobile phones that is highly efficient with memory and power usage. Its core includes support for a number of wireless technologies, including Bluetooth, WAP, and others, as well as core PIM applications such as contacts and calendar. It also supports international appplications, making it especially useful in growing Asian markets such as China.

Already Symbian phones are available from most members of the consortium, and there are a large number of licensees, such as Sanyo, that will be releasing Symbian products (even though they are not investors). The fact that the new OS 7.0 enjoys such wide industry support virtually ensures the success of Symbian, even in the face of new smartphone competition from both the Pocket PC and Palm camps.

Are you considering purchasing a smartphone over the next year? TalkBack below or e-mail us with your thoughts.

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