The Google Android operating system is really changing the way people look at mobile devices and what purposes they serve. The OS is doing more than just changing user habits, but it is also changing the way communication is done and it is also affecting the industry as well.
The Symbian operating system has been a long term standard for many mobile devices in the past decade. Nokia has been considered to be the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. It makes perfect sense that the Symbian OS (and derivatives of it) are among the most distributed operating systems in the industry.
However, in the past few years, that number has been decreased heavily, with the Google Android and many other operating systems (Apple’s iOS, Samsung’s Bada and the Blackberry OS, to name just a few) already available and the user experience with the Symbian still not improving, users are learning to look elsewhere for mobile phones.
According to Nokia, they will only have one Symbian^3 operating system for the N-series. In the meanwhile, they have not fully written out the Symbian^4 (if there will be one), but they did mention that they are excited about the N8. Sadly, despite the close ties between Nokia and the Symbian Foundation, it still feels like the phone manufacturer doubts the Symbian as well.
Some users of Nokia handsets are claiming that the Symbian’s lack of any real changes or updates is also causing disinterest in the OS. With no new features being added, it is easy to see why people are looking for more. Despite the support for apps, additional features such as practical add-ons are the ones that users would need the most if they would consider sticking to the Symbian. In the meanwhile, the competition just keeps getting stronger and stronger; the Android is coming out with version 3 by the end of the year, and the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is also launching.
Tags: google-android, Nokia, Symbian, Symbian-3, Symbian-4