Symbian OS goes open-source

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 04 Feb 2010 4:46 User comments (3)

According to the The Symbian Foundation, the world's most popular mobile operating system, Symbian, is going open-source.

Individual developers as well as organizations can now modify the source code "for any purpose."

The Foundation says over 330 million smartphones have shipped worldwide running Symbian and the new move to open-source should attract a plethora of new developers to work on the platform, thus speeding up improvements.

"This is the largest open source migration effort ever," says Lee Williams of the Symbian Foundation, via the BBC. "It will increase rate of evolution and increase the rate of innovation of the platform."

Nokia purchased the software in 2008 and created the Foundation to oversee the transition to open-source. Members of the Foundation include Nokia, AT&T, LG, Motorola, NTT Docomo, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone.

The move should also help Symbian take back some market share from open-source rival Android and the closed-source iPhone.

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3 user comments

15.2.2010 05:04

borhan9

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AfterDawn Addict

I like this. This is great news for the developer community and i think within a short time will surpass other mobile phone operating systems.

25.2.2010 07:51

NHS2008

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Senior Member

This is great news. I like the vast 3rd party support I get on my Nokia N85 and it's only gonna get better!!

36.2.2010 02:32

hermes_vb

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Senior Member

I guess they are feeling the heat from Android...

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Symbian OS goes open-source

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