Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and NTT DoCoMo Create ‘Symbian Foundation’

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Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and NTT DoCoMo Create ‘Symbian Foundation’

5:40 am on June 25, 2008 | Category: Business, Mobile Devices, Cell Phones, Software

Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and NTT DoCoMo have announced plans to unite the Symbian OS, with the S60, UIQ, and MOAP software platforms, to create a single open software interface for mobile phones.

AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, and Vodafone Group have all agreed to help establish the new “Symbian Foundation,” whose membership is open to all organizations.

In order to make the project possible, Nokia has announced plans to acquire the portion of Symbian Ltd. that it doesn’t already own, at a cost of €264 million, then contribute its Symbian and S60 software to the non-profit Foundation. Sony Ericsson and Motorola, meanwhile, have agreed to contribute technology from UIQ, while DoCoMo will throw in its MOAP assets.

The Symbian Foundation will combine all of these contributions into a “unified platform with common UI framework.” The full platform will be available to all members of the foundation under a royalty-free license.

“This is a significant milestone in our software strategy”, said Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. “Symbian is already the leading open platform for mobile devices. Through this acquisition and the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, it will undisputedly be the most attractive platform for mobile innovation. This will drive the development of new and compelling, web-enabled applications to delight a new generation of consumers.”