Analyst says Android and Symbian to merge, Nokia and Google to get matching tattoos

According to the oracle-like superbrains at J. Gold Associates, Google's Android OS and Nokia's Symbian will "combine to provide a single open source OS," sometime in the very near future... say, three to six months. Sure, Android is just about to launch on devices in late 2008, and Nokia just announced in June that it will be moving Symbian towards open source -- and of course the two companies have no formal relationship that would come close to permitting such a collaboration. Still, J. Gold assures us this is happening, stating, "A combination of the Android and Symbian efforts would be good for the industry, good for Google and good for Symbian." In related news, we understand a handful of similar mergers are in the offing: Linksys and Belkin, Red Hat and Ubuntu, Engadget and Gizmodo, and the inevitable one-two punch of Coke and Pepsi.

Update: Craziest thing, it turns out that Google, Nokia, and Symbian are all dismissing the platform merger talk as utter nonsense. And for once, we believe those trusty souls; who knows, maybe it's the complete lack of technical synergy between them?

[Bryan @ Jul 25th 2008 11:03AM]

PWNED

[Derry Quinn @ Jul 25th 2008 11:27AM]

I hate sybian and Android looks so much more usefull/easier to use. I hope this never happens

[Engadgetluvsappl @ Jul 25th 2008 11:30AM]

I'm not so sure if Howard Stern would prefer Android to Sybian.

[Derry Quinn @ Jul 25th 2008 12:04PM]

Me=FAIL XD

Symbian of course!

(In my defense, this is a new keyboard)

[7on @ Jul 25th 2008 12:35PM]

Damn those new keyboards and hiding "m" god known where.

[Cassini @ Jul 25th 2008 9:21PM]

Dear J.G. Ass.:

This merger you think is emergent, will rather, immerge into thin air to emerge into something more reflective of an anti-merger. Will it ever re-emerge? No. But there are all sorts of other mergers that will in fact, merge with the future when those mergers are approved by those emergents who decide to emerge from their submergence in order to merge; all of this, of course, not being an emergency.

So relax, quit merging your mouths with hot gas to emerge nonsense, go home, and merge with your wives.

Sincerely,

Mergy M. Merger

[loosely_coupled @ Jul 26th 2008 12:29AM]

I highly doubt they have compatible frameworks. Why would they merge them? IT would seem to be more effort than it is worth versus just getting Android into a functional state and getting the damn devices out! Later on down the line, app compatibility between the two would be great, but don't spend 12 months trying to merge the two before bringing out new devices. My god, the iPhone would take over the world by then.

BTW, I love the iPhone and will be getting one soon, but I am completely rooting for Android. I hope it's a kickass product. Just like Ubuntu, Android can succeed and make a huge impact on the market if they STANDARDIZE THE USER INTERFACE GUIDELINES FOR CONSISTENCY! I honestly believe that's the single biggest problem (well... other than hardware driver support, but that's a whole other issue) with Ubuntu really penetrating the consumer desktop sector.
Though there is some excellent exceptions, most software for Ubuntu (Gnome, KDE, and Linux in general) has a user interface that is at best mediocre, and at worse downright horrible. UI elements scattered about with no direction, terribly busy interfaces, multiple levels of dropdown menus, inconsistent functionality, etc.
Now only are most applications poor in usability, but the worst part is the inconsistency between different apps, and the overall lack of direction and guiding principal. Software developers (and yes I am one, although I am fairly good as UI design having worked as a designer) need to quit screwing around and get a competent designer to help them that is experienced with UI design. Creating an effective UI is much harder than most people would even believe --- It is really a learned skill.

This is a major part of the attractiveness of Mac OSX to many people. The software is simple and elegant, with attractive interfaces and very intuitive design. We NEED to implement OSX type UI design guidelines in Ubuntu and Android. I'm so sick of looking at terrible software interfaces put together by completely artistically inept engineer types.

[Shadowise @ Jul 25th 2008 11:04AM]

I would like some cokesi. Though GizGadget doesn't sound as appealing.

[tekdroid @ Jul 25th 2008 11:09AM]

Enmodo to your liking, sir?

[Mugsy @ Jul 25th 2008 1:56PM]

Personally I like 'engigazmodgedot'

[Stan Winsome @ Jul 26th 2008 1:15AM]

How is that better than having two competitors? Isn't merging these two kind of the opposite of the whole point of open source?

[tekdroid @ Jul 25th 2008 11:08AM]

Makes note:
"Do not buy phone engineered by J Gold Associates"

[quag @ Jul 25th 2008 11:09AM]

Dear J. Gold Associates,

I am very skilled at talking out of my ass, which clearly is an important job qualification at your esteemed company. Because this skill is in high demand, I am sure you could make good use of a man such as myself on your team.

I would like a corner office with a fully stocked bar, a curvy but brilliant secretary to do all of the actual work, meal signing privileges at the City Club and keys to the executive washroom.

I can begin immediately, after taking a three-week, paid vacation on your dime.

Your truly,

Josiah Carberry

[riggs @ Jul 25th 2008 11:21AM]

you sir not only won the internets you have complete and utter ownership of them.

[Kamokazi @ Jul 25th 2008 12:49PM]

You forgot the keys to your company car. No, not the Jag or Rolls, the Porsche, of course.

[quag @ Jul 25th 2008 1:24PM]

Company car.... bah! That's for the unwashed masses.

I'll take a car and driver on call 24x7. That was implied and should be obvious for a man of my great stature.

[Chuck @ Jul 25th 2008 11:09AM]

Sounds good to me!

[nmmalone @ Jul 25th 2008 11:09AM]

As long as there are Android handsets sometime this year

[Doug @ Jul 25th 2008 11:14AM]

Estoy muy confusado! Tengo medio!

[riggs @ Jul 25th 2008 11:22AM]

you have half eh?

[Doug @ Jul 25th 2008 11:29AM]

oh, Miedo... Lo siento. Estoy cansado..

[Marcos @ Jul 25th 2008 12:15PM]

I'm confused... what does "confusado" mean?

[Doug @ Jul 25th 2008 12:19PM]

confundido.. See I am tired.. Eu sou muito consado tambem cara... E eu falo mais portugues.. jaja..

[Jay @ Jul 25th 2008 2:08PM]

¿Hablas español? Você fala português? But when you mix the two together, you're just speaking portuñol.

Eu prefiro o português ao espanhol também. As mulheres brasileiras são as melhores no mundo.

[phanbouy @ Jul 25th 2008 2:22PM]

eu gosto de comer as garotas brasileiras

[Brian @ Jul 25th 2008 11:16AM]

You made my stomach upset... Android on top of Symbian or vice versa? Blehhh.

Android needs to stay far away from Symbian. I have to support that stuff all day on the phone... it's far beyond Palm, but isn't even close to taking the spotlight from Windows Mobile 6.1.

(The N95's camera takes great pictures, though!)

[Nomi @ Jul 25th 2008 11:21AM]

Dude, your comment is not sense making.

[Yogiri @ Jul 25th 2008 11:54AM]

The perils of Google Traslate.

[Lautaro @ Jul 25th 2008 11:55AM]

Translate*

[riggs @ Jul 25th 2008 3:37PM]

wtf?!^

[Rich @ Jul 25th 2008 11:18AM]

I'd loved it to happen but it won't any time soon.

[Engadgetluvsappl @ Jul 25th 2008 11:19AM]

OMFG, I thought you guys weren't allowed to even mention Gizmodo?

Seriously, when was the last time Gizmodo was mentioned by an Engadget editor???

[Fahad @ Jul 25th 2008 12:16PM]

well, now that Ryan is out of here ... I guess that rule doesnt apply anymore ..

[rock99rock @ Jul 25th 2008 1:19PM]

Bravo for Joshua. I lol'd when i read that. Had to double check i was on the right site.

[JJV @ Jul 25th 2008 4:40PM]

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/01/technology/blog_wars.fortune/index.htm

haha

[Apreche @ Jul 25th 2008 11:20AM]

If a device like the NokiaN810, with its Linuxness, had a 3G radio, and the support for all the Google Apps, I wouldn't have even considered buying the iPhone I just got. While I don't believe this is something that is likely to happen, The idea of Nokia + Google makes me warm inside.

[riggs @ Jul 25th 2008 11:30AM]

Nokia N810 + androir = sexy

[Sarig @ Jul 25th 2008 11:20AM]

Sounds like a guy heard there were about to be two open source mobile OS' and really had no idea what was actually going on.

And really, how would the two of them merging be good? Google + Symbian seems like a recipie for cell-phone monopoly by the "We store everything you ever do 'cause we can" company.

[BFish @ Jul 25th 2008 11:22AM]

By mergin Linux and Symbian, you propably end up aving something like this as a love child: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2941186.html

Makes more sense that Nokia would just dump their Maemo efforts and replace it wit Android and start to move on that from Symbian.
We will see the same operating systems than in computers: Linux (Anroid), Unix (Mac), Windows (WinMo). Just can't turn crappy Symbian into same league.

[SymbiX @ Jul 25th 2008 12:03PM]

Have you ever actually used it maybe ? The fact that it has the biggest share of the market should ring a bell as to how crappy it is.

[iHoppipolla @ Jul 25th 2008 1:09PM]

@BFish: So how long have you been waiting to bust out that link?

J. Gold- "The downside is minimal. Everyone wins."

And yet the whole article is about the upside. That's about the queerest analysis I've seen this side of American Idol.

[Frankenstein Black @ Jul 25th 2008 11:26AM]

Good news! Hopefully the Android heads fix that long standing Symbian security nuisance of the lack of extension differentiators. Example: Someone downloads Trojan laden malware, because Symbian "calls" are not extension dependent what you thought was a .jpg is actually a malware laden .exe. So Google, Fix that will ya...

[Rich @ Jul 25th 2008 6:55PM]

Yeah, that problem affects that other security nuisance operating system called Unix...

[SuperQ @ Jul 25th 2008 11:38AM]

So let's see.. Symbian is mostly C++, and Android is Java/DalvikVM.. merging years of completely different source bases should only take a couple of months.. riiiiight.

[Raghu @ Jul 25th 2008 12:17PM]

That is why clueless consultants are paid so much, and the analysts who are even more clueless even more and not to mention the investment bankers who buy these reports to run out to buy stock based on these reports.... and the country still runs?

[digitallysick @ Jul 25th 2008 11:43AM]

Sounds great, i like the sybian os, its always been fast on my nokia phones

[quomen @ Jul 25th 2008 1:18PM]

Wait, isn't symbian the..

[Kel @ Jul 25th 2008 11:46AM]

and don't forget Microsoft and Apple or MSapp which is pronounced "Mishap"

[Todd @ Jul 25th 2008 11:53AM]

Good gawd! The inmates are running the asylum over at J. Gold Associates. SRSLY.

In other news [ from J. Gold Associates ] Apple's Steve Jobs and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer have agreed to merge the two companies and no longer compete.

[fred @ Jul 25th 2008 11:56AM]

Why does that picture make me think that this robot is Canadian?