Having yet to announce the details surrounding the Symbian Foundation, the OS developer has a fresh battle on its hands following the departure of Motorola as one of its long-term and most consistent advocates.
Motorola has stated it now intends to focus on just two OS platforms (Android and Windows Mobile) in the high-end market next year in a bid to reduce R&D costs and simplify its overly-complex cell phone portfolio. "We will no longer offer new devices on Symbian UIQ (Motorola's version of the Symbian OS) and our internally developed Linux-Java platform," said the company's new CEO, Sanjay Jha.
Whilst this decision will be a significant blow to Symbian's ambition to become a leading supplier of open operating systems, this move by Motorola is part of a radical overhaul of its cell phone business that will see many established suppliers and technology roadmaps thrown to one side. Jha admitted that dropping Symbian would be painful in the short-term, particularly as it meant no new Symbian-based devices would be launched in 2009. "There is no quick fix here," Jha said. "The first half of next year will be challenging, fewer devices will be released than expected."
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