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?
posted Jul 25th 2008 11:00AM
PWNED
I hate sybian and Android looks so much more usefull/easier to use. I hope this never happens
I'm not so sure if Howard Stern would prefer Android to Sybian.
Me=FAIL XD
Symbian of course!
(In my defense, this is a new keyboard)
Damn those new keyboards and hiding "m" god known where.
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
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.
I would like some cokesi. Though GizGadget doesn't sound as appealing.
Enmodo to your liking, sir?
Personally I like 'engigazmodgedot'
How is that better than having two competitors? Isn't merging these two kind of the opposite of the whole point of open source?
Makes note:
"Do not buy phone engineered by J Gold Associates"
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
you sir not only won the internets you have complete and utter ownership of them.
You forgot the keys to your company car. No, not the Jag or Rolls, the Porsche, of course.
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.
Sounds good to me!
As long as there are Android handsets sometime this year
Estoy muy confusado! Tengo medio!
you have half eh?
oh, Miedo... Lo siento. Estoy cansado..
I'm confused... what does "confusado" mean?
confundido.. See I am tired.. Eu sou muito consado tambem cara... E eu falo mais portugues.. jaja..
¿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.
eu gosto de comer as garotas brasileiras
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!)
Dude, your comment is not sense making.
The perils of Google Traslate.
Translate*
wtf?!^
I'd loved it to happen but it won't any time soon.
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???
well, now that Ryan is out of here ... I guess that rule doesnt apply anymore ..
Bravo for Joshua. I lol'd when i read that. Had to double check i was on the right site.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/01/technology/blog_wars.fortune/index.htm
haha
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.
Nokia N810 + androir = sexy
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.
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.
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.
@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.
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...
Yeah, that problem affects that other security nuisance operating system called Unix...
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.
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?
Sounds great, i like the sybian os, its always been fast on my nokia phones
Wait, isn't symbian the..
and don't forget Microsoft and Apple or MSapp which is pronounced "Mishap"
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.
Why does that picture make me think that this robot is Canadian?
Terrance and Phillip?
http://www.tvguide.com/images/pgimg/south-park3.jpg
Because it reminds you of that giant O2 sucking vacuum that Rocket Robin Hood destroyed by shooting Will Scarlet's electric sword into its bag?
I just want a damn Android phone to come out already. For the love of god, make it happen my contract is up in October.
AWE..SM!!
Yea.....bullshit.
Obain 2008?
For those who didn't get it, Obama + McCain
No, no, no... McCama '08 FTW!
Or go with middle names.... Sissein '08
umm.... worst news ever? yeah that's what I think.
I hope it's 100% false. Symbian's outdated look and sluggish UI should be everything Android stands against.
You, sir, are confused. Symbian is an OS, like Linux. (Maybe that's a bad explanation; after all, some people think that GNOME is the Linux UI, and complain about it instead...) You may be thinking of S60, which, as a platform, has a distinctive look and UI; or perhaps you were thinking of UIQ or MOAP. They're all platforms, each including a UI, and all based on Symbian as the OS (with the exception of MOAP(L)).
That said, it's still not obvious why either possible merge direction would make any sense at all. Switching Android to Symbian makes less than no sense, and switching Symbian (itself an OS) to use the Linux kernel would leave little of Symbian intact; an S60 (or whatever) compatibility layer for Android would make more sense...
@Benson
Actually benson, you might want to check YOUR facts as well. Linux isn't an Operating System. It's a kernel.
In other news, J. Gold Associates believes pyramid-style business models work best.
First Android acquires symbian.
But, if Symbian gets two more OS platforms to join it, Android gets even stronger!
If those two platforms get two platforms each....omg I'm a genius!
I could see this coming miles away. Nokia has always said that Symbian was not good enough for future phones and that Linux would have replace Symbian. I am not sure what are the intentions here but one would think that Symbian is still excellent for low to high-end spec phones while Android is firstly thought for high to Overlord spec phones. I think that we are going to see both Android and Symbian Nokia devices (f*** yeah!!). I am not sure up to what point this 2 OSs can be integrated.
*replaced
"Nokia has always said that Symbian was not good enough for future phones and that Linux would have replace Symbian."
Sauce?
"You shall be Assimilated. Everything else is Irrelevant."
Analyst has no idea what he's talking about.
WAIT.
NOKIA IS CANADIAN!?
You know IF this happens it will end up being Symbian Series 60 with inputs from UIQ (Sony Ericsson, Motorola), MOAP (NTT DoCoMo) and Android (Google + Partners). But it will basically run all S60 applications.
From what I've heard Android is nowhere near ready, so it will have to be S60 with some input from Google (and the others of course).
Yet, somehow I doubt this, still it wouldn't surprise me since Google has been making apps for S60 for a while now and they can advance their real business plans much sooner by hopping onboard a mature platform.
SIMIAN+ANDROID = ROBO KONG! (or is't donkey borg?)
This is not stating it will happen but purely a prediction.
Mr Gold told me, "We have not sited any sources at either Symbian or Google for this report, as it is conjecture on our part, based on market analysis and what we believe should take place to advance the mobile market"
I will have more information on this at http://www.googleandblog.com/
,Michael Martin
I find it very unlikely.
Android = Linux = C
Symbian = C++
Joining these two codebases would be totally overkill.
According to this article Symbian going open-source isn't enough: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=617&doc_id=157720&f_src=flffour
The author says they need to use Nokia's great research to make it better - not someone else (maybe Google?)