Travelling: Behind The Scenes In Symbian’s Development Hell

Many in the mobile industry have wondered for years what exactly Nokia was doing over there. With the iPhone and Android taking huge bites out of them and reinventing UI on a yearly release schedule, Nokia seemed to have tied itself to the anchor of legacy systems, while still ostensibly researching and designing a true next-generation OS. It can’t have been both, right? As it turns out, it kind of was.

The Register has an interesting behind-the-scenes look, partially based on info from a longtime Symbian developer, Mark Wilcox. He explains how the enormous bureaucracy of Nokia produced pet projects and internal fragmentation, paralyzing the development process while producing an illusion of progress to many middle managers. It’s an interesting read so I won’t over-summarize here.

In the meantime, lets hope Nokia uses its billion-dollar “research grant” a little more wisely.

Nokia sneaking a look at new Symbian UI during China event

Perched behind Nokia's head of smart devices, Jo Harlow, at a recent event in China is what appears to be a new home screen on an N8, yet more evidence -- hot on the heels of the company's MWC event -- that Espoo still has plenty of love in the wings for its dead-platform-walking. Notably, it appears they're looking at migrating key information to the top of the screen to create a dedicated status bar, which would presumably stay visible as you navigate from screen to screen -- akin to most other platforms on the market -- accompanied by a string of soft button icons at the bottom. Interestingly, the UI in some respects mirrors what we saw on the leaked shots of the apparently killed N9 -- small black status bar and icons along the bottom -- which would seem to tell us one of two things: either the N9 was a Symbian device all along, or the company had planned on standardizing UI elements between its future Symbian and MeeGo roadmaps. Either way, this looks like a nice improvement... and in all likelihood, a far cry from what we'll see when these guys start busting out Windows Phone 7 devices.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop talking with Microsoft, Symbian, MeeGo, and Windows Phone

We had a chance to sit down for a few minutes with the man who's arguably stolen the show here at Mobile World Congress this year -- Nokia CEO Stephen Elop -- to talk about everything from his time at Microsoft to the potential for a multi-billion dollar platform partnership with his former employer that he's hoping to foster over the coming years. Elop's emerged in the past week as an outspoken character who doesn't seem to shy away from a question, to speak his mind, or to tell it like it is, which makes this ten-odd minute segment a must-see. Check it out after the break. 

Switched On: Iconic trend meet ironic end

This week saw significant and contrasting twists for the legacies of two operating systems that had their roots in the heyday of the PDA. HP revealed that it is killing off the Palm brand, and Nokia announced that -- while it would continue to "harvest" less capable versions of the Symbian operating system on its basic handsets -- it would shift away from the operating system in its smartphones in favor of Windows Phone 7. In some ways, the demise of the Palm brand and the loss of Symbian's last major supporter at Microsoft's hands represent the end of an era. 

Palm's salad days included the creation of Graffiti, the category-defining Pilot, and the sleek and popular Palm V. However, it suffered under many troubled owners and strategies, including the separation of and failed reunion with the Palm operating system. At the start of the company's final chapter, CEO Jon Rubinstein pointed to the company's focus on mobile as its main differentiator, but mobile wasn't enough to keep the company afloat.

Now, with its software and handsets inside HP, the group formerly known as the Palm Global Business Unit is working hard to bring webOS to products that include PCs and printers. That's a long way from today's mobile handset – so long that one may question whether apps developed for such devices will have much relevance for a smartphone – but the operating system that was once laser-focused on pocketable products is living on through devices that are anything but.

The Nokia of the '90s saw Microsoft – not Android – as the agent of commoditization.

That twist is nothing compared to the fate of Symbian, the roots of which were an OS called EPOC32, the product of another PDA company called Psion. (Psion, which continues today as a maker of industrial handheld devices, produced what is still arguably the best handheld keyboard in a pocket device with its Series 5 and 5mx clamshell PDAs.) Symbian was driven by a consortium of handset companies led by Nokia -- but also including Motorola, Samsung and LG and Sony Ericsson -- that wanted to have a hedge against the potential influence and growing mobile ambitions of -- that's right -- Microsoft. The Nokia of the '90s saw Microsoft – not Android – as the agent of commoditization.

Symbian was not only successful in terms of driving a massive installed base and market share, but also in its strategic mission of keeping Microsoft at bay. Its demise was driven not by the success of Microsoft, but of Android, which has served the same purpose for many handset vendors while offering many of the characteristics consumers liked about the iPhone.

You could consider these games of chess as similar but unrelated, but the truth of the matter is that they share a common player. Before webOS was ready, Palm too embraced Windows Mobile as a stopgap operating system. Just as for Nokia, Windows wasn't necessarily the operating system that was "right" but the one that was "right now." The smartphone market has changed radically since those days, of course. Nokia can keep working on MeeGo as an alternative should things not work out with Microsoft, but it's clear that the struggling handset giant is committing to Windows Phone as far more than just a hedge. For things to turn out otherwise would be the biggest twist of all. 

Android sold more handsets in 2010-Q4 than Nokia’s Symbian

For the first time in 10 years, Nokia’s symbian platform was NOT the leader in handsets sales, as Google’s Android took the top spot for Q4 of 2010! Research firm Canalys said on Monday that 32.0 million Android phones were sold, while Symbian devices sold totaled 31 million. A large amount of those sales for Android phones comes from popular models from HTC, Samsung and LG, not surprisingly either, as we saw many new models from each of those manufacturers, and will continue to see many more as they ramp up after showing off new devices for 2011 after CES.

Will Nokia be able to regain their corner of the smartphone market? That remains to be seen. They have a new CEO, Stephen Elop, who plans to announce his new direction for Nokia on Feb. 11th 2011. Android on the other hand doesn’t seem to have much to worry about as it continually climbs the popularity ladder, and will keep climbing into 2011 with Gingerbread and Honeycomb releases.

Important Choice: Nokia Dropping Symbian and MeeGo, Going with Windows Phone 7

In a dramatic change of strategy, Nokia announced a plan this morning to make Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 its default operating system. In the future, Nokia will stop developing operating systems and concentrate on smartphone hardware.

Devices already in the product pipeline will be released, but they will be among that last from this company running the Symbian OS, and there may be only phone ever with the MeeGo OS that Nokia spent the last year or so developing.

In the announcement today, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop pointed out that many of the specifics of this deal are still being negotiated.

The New PartnershipAlthough all the details have yet to be worked out, the plan is to let each of these companies concentrate on what they do best: Microsoft will develop the Windows Phone operating system, while Nokia will make smartphones to run it.

It's important to note that Nokia will not be the exclusive provider of devices running Windows Phone, as companies like Samsung, HTC, and LG are also Microsoft licensees. However, these companies are putting more of their attention into developing products based on Google's Android OS, while all of Nokia's focus will be on Windows Phone.  

Still, in order to to be competitive, Nokia is going to have to work hard to differentiate its products. Microsoft has a relatively restrictive set of hardware requirements for devices running its mobile operating system -- its specifies screen sizes and resolutions, processor speeds, and even button placements. This can make it something of a challenge for its licensees to produce products that are significantly different.

Still, Nokia has its strong brand to fall back on, as well as a reputation for offering smartphones with the best cameras available.

Bing is going power Nokia's search services, while Nokia Maps will become a core part of Microsoft's mapping services.

Nokia/Microsoft vs. Google and AppleThe agreement announced this morning is designed to bring together a pair of companies into an alliance to take on some very strong competitors.

Nokia is the world's largest phone maker, but it has run into problems creating successful smartphones. Despite its efforts and many millions spent on research, this company make most of its revenue from featurephones, a product category that's sliding into decline.

Microsoft has also struggled to make itself relevant in the global smartphone market. Windows Phone 7 is its latest offering in this category, but its only been available for a few months.

With Microsoft providing the operating system and Nokia the smartphone hardware, they think they have a team that can compete with Apple and Google.

Apple, of course, is the maker of the very popular iPhone while Google is the developer of the Android operating system. Although relative newcomers to the smartphone market, phenomenal growth over just a few years has made these companies very significant competitors, to the point where Microsoft and Nokia were becoming increasingly irrelevant.

"I am excited about this partnership with Nokia," said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. "The partnership announced today provides incredible scale, vast expertise in hardware and software innovation and a proven ability to execute."