http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/ Engadget Comments for Nokia buys Symbian, turns software over to Symbian Foundation http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
/G]]>Jun 24th 2008 6:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 11:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/The move could trigger unease among other major wireless-handset vendors, as many of Nokia's rivals -- including Motorola Inc , Samsung and Sony Ericsson -- rely on Symbian's software platform for so-called smart phones, said the report.
Nokia will announce Tuesday that it is buying Siemens AG's 8.4 percent stake in Symbian to increase its holding to 56.3 percent, said the article, citing people familiar with the matter.
Nokia will pay the German company about $109.4 million for the stake, said the report on the Wall Street Journal's Web site.

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/06/24/business/OUKBS-UK-SYMBIAN-NOKIA.php

I don't think the other companies (Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson) would like to be under control from their main competitor Nokia.]]>Jun 24th 2008 2:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 11:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
So, Motorola, SE, Samsung, NTT etc should be generally happy about this. (As should we all.. :)

]]>Jun 24th 2008 3:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 25th 2008 8:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 2:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 3:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Request in Process Android ;)
]]>Jun 24th 2008 4:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
Pick the ones you like :P

Open sourcing Symbian just took away the only advantage Android had.]]>Jun 24th 2008 5:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
Also, NTT/AT&T/Vodafone may be competent in network deployment, and SE/LG/Samsung/Nokia/Motorola may be competent in device design and manufacturing, but they are seriously lacking in software development. It might not look like that right now compared to competitors, but OHA has a potential collaborative power far greater than Symbian (think great mail/IM, music download, streaming video apps and more).

A number of SF members are also in OHA anyway. If anything, this is a graceful way to keep Symbian's current market share stable while allowing its technology to eventually be absorbed into OHA: give Android the next few years to develop a solid market, then open up Symbian and allow developers to take its strengths and freely port them to Android. Really, for SF members, it's better to provide a solid transitional model for Symbian than have two of their own platforms (one open, one closed) that end up competing with each other and with other platforms, severely undermining either's success -- and especially if OHA has a chance at carving a larger market share than Symbian can grow in the long term.]]>Jun 24th 2008 6:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 8:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 9:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
Damn, my first thought when I saw the headline was "maybe that will finally kill off UIQ". No such luck.]]>Jun 24th 2008 3:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 4:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 1:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 4:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Plus you rarely hear that S60 is awkward to use. Most are complaining about the eye candy where S60 3th edition fp2 did give some of that, but i'm sure 5th edition that comes out this year will be ready to hold it's position with 55% of smart phone market or more.]]>Jun 24th 2008 5:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
- Settings are scattered all over the place
- You can set a standard data connection for Symbian apps, but not Java ones and you can't set a global preference for 3G and trusted WiFi if available. Instead it displays a full list of connection options including provider presets for MMS and streaming everytime you fire up Opera Mini or the Gmail app. I can set the native apps like the built in browser to use 3G all the time, but then I can't switch to WiFi if it's available.
- The email app is awful. Fortunately Google's Gmail app is very good.
- Why the hell isn't there a timer app? Who put a manager for zip archives higher on the list of priorities?
- The UI is butt ugly and looks extremely dated. Even the icons are bad, surely Nokia can afford to hire a designer?

I think it's pretty telling that the best app on my phone is Google's Gmail app.]]>Jun 24th 2008 5:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/I believe N78 is the only fp2 device out there currently? The eye-candy is there, but again not iphone like.
People who don't like S60 currently need to remember that the 3th edition is living it last days and will look outdated now when 5th edition takes it place.

This is a great news and hopefully we will see devices soon. I'm not sure if i'm happy with the fact that this probally makes Symbian more of a monopoly than before, but it's good thing that it will be open.]]>Jun 24th 2008 6:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 8:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/You are not limited to just the software that's on the phone.
You can download a timer app if you look for one.

You can also download themes with better icons. There are lots of talented theme makers if you look around.

If you managed to download Gmail and Opera Mini, you can find other apps to make your phone better.]]>Jun 24th 2008 10:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 4:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 5:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 5:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Thought as they say it will be open so that's a good thing even if Symbian will get even more hold of smart phone business than now.]]>Jun 24th 2008 5:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 5:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 7:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
Sometimes I really wonder if people think at all before posting...]]>Jun 24th 2008 8:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 6:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
From here:
http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1230415
"The net cash outlay from Nokia to purchase the approximately 52% of Symbian Limited shares it does not already own will be approximately EUR 264 million."

So Nokia as a company "loses" $264 mil since they are buying something and turning it over to the Symbian foundation - but they are not really "losing" anything as over time they will benefit from this transaction.]]>Jun 24th 2008 8:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 9:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
"the developers can keep the improvements or additions as proprietary"

I call Shenanigans on the openness of the Symbian Foundation. There are some big dogs in there and I think they are just trying to save face by saying "look we are open too".

Only time will tell for sure but I'm betting that they will simply keep the good stuff proprietary.]]>Jun 24th 2008 10:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 11:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
I would add more sentences to this comment, gladly, but in the end it would be a much longer version of "no, it's not"
(See what I did there? ;-) ]]>Jun 24th 2008 12:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 24th 2008 11:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Although I'm not a big fan, Im glad to see Symbian being offered open source to all phone manufacturers. This, Along with Apple's OSX, Android and the LiMo foundation is really going to obsolete Windows mobile, if it wasn't already. And thank god! NO ONE should have to suffer through the hideous crap that is windows mobile.

Android will eventually be great, but Google needs to get the carriers to lay off with their own proprietary "services" and create as universal a platform as possible. I think it was a BAD idea that Google lets the carriers heavily modify the platform --- that may end up being the down fall of it. MS doesn't let carriers like Verizon put their stupid V-cast shit on Windows mobile, so why should Android? It's not as if they can/will stop manufacturers from selling Android Phones...]]>Jun 24th 2008 9:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/Jun 25th 2008 12:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/24/nokia-buys-symbian/
Somebody needs to learn the difference between 'populous' and
'popular'. They certainly don't mean the same thing, and 'populous'
is out of place in this sentence.]]>Jun 25th 2008 6:30AM