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Nokia assures Symbian is here to stay, even as it cosies up to Microsoft

Published on Feb 24, 2011

Nokia makes Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 its primary platform for smartphones

Published on Mar 17, 2011

Nokia's decision to make Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 its primary platform for smartphones has created a buzz in the market, creating speculations over the fate of the symbian plaftform as well as hundreds of engineers at company's Bangalore research centre. The handset-maker who employs around 2,500 engineers in its Bangalore centre is in the process of shifting its Symbian projects back to Finland from Bangalore. Symbian is one of the most used mobile phone operating system in the world, having an installed base of over 200 million phones. A local news report, stated that "for Nokia smartphone users, the handshake between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his ex-employee and current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop may mean a shrinking of the Symbian mobile app market place."It there doesnot come as a surprise that the move has resulted in concern and displeasure from the Symbian community worldwide. Interestingly Nokia has been providing assurance that Symbian isn’t going anywhere. Nokia’s Malaysian general manager, Vlasta Berka, was quoted by CNet as saying, "just because we're changing our direction in terms of smartphone platform, it doesn't mean that the existing platform is completely broken. ”He further added, "symbian is here to stay. Symbian will still be around, but it's just going to go somewhere around the corner."Nokia's move is seen as a strategical decision made to revive its flagging business and recapture the market which is slipping away to competitors like Samsung and Apple. Till things pan out we will have to wait and watch to see how this gamble plays out.