Nokia considering dumping Symbian from flagship N-series

The enthusiastic response to Nokia's new N900 has provoked the company into reviewing whether the Symbian S60 OS is the right platform for future smartphones in its N-series consumer range.

Inside reports indicate Nokia will let Symbian go in 2012 and focus on the Maemo platform. All high-end N-series multimedia devices will then be running the Linux OS by 2012, even though X-series and E-series devices will continue to run the Symbian OS. However, this platform ‘roadmap' would appear not to have high-level sign-off and the switch away from Symbian is being heavily promoted from within the Maemo group.

Until the launch of the N900, Maemo had been used exclusively in Nokia's range of internet tablets--however, the processing power of the new N900 has been described as closer to a pocket PC than a mobile phone.

Observers have pointed to some of Maemo's present failings (as seen with the N900) as offering services and apps that cannot compare to the mature S60 platform regardless of Maemo 5's superior user experience.

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