Just having returned from CTIA, I was impressed by the number of pdaPhones, and traditional handsets, that operate on the Symbian platform. Symbian has not been a major player in the US, so we are somewhat shielded by how big it is in Europe. It is also somewhat confusing to watch from a pdaPhone perspective, because many Symbian phones are more high-end mobile phones, than pdaPhones.
Symbian has been an independent company since 1998 when it was split off from Psion as a consortium to focus on the platform development. The participants in the consortium have come and gone over the years. In 1998, there was no major contender competing for the same market space, and span of market coverage, that Symbian operates in. The primary alternatives to Symbian in use at that time were the proprietary operating systems developed by the handset makers. Palm and Pocket PC pdaPhones had not even entered the market at that time. But, today we have a very different situation. Symbian now finds itself being persued agressively by none other than the prince of Redmond - Bill Gates. Gates, and Microsoft, have placed a big bullseye on the mobile phone market as the next empire they will topple. Past history has shown that they almost always hit their mark... ventually, and they have a seemingly unending supply of arrows in their quill.
Symbian can always play the "we are open, and you are proprietary" card in the battle, but only if it continues to be a consortium led platform. But, this puts it at a disadvantage when trying to be fast on its feet in the battle. Consortiums have traditionally been slow to move as they try to build consensus and keep the group together. Making matters worse, handset makers and carriers are more interested in content and premium services, than they are in operating systems.
The current trouble for Symbian has to do with the battle for control of the company. Currently, the ownership of the consortium breaks out to Nokia 32.2%, Psion 31.1%, Ericsson 17.5%, Panasonic 7.9%, Samsung 5%, Siemens 4.8%, and Sony Ericsson 1.5%. Psion has agreed to sell its shares to Nokia, which would give Nokia a 63.3% share of the consortium. Ericsson is urging the other consortium members to exercise their right to buy the Psion shares in proportion to their current holdings. If only Ericsson and partner Sony play, then Nokia would end up with a 54.7% share. If one other member plays, then Nokia only ends up with 46.7%. Ericsson wants to keep Nokia below 50%, but the rules of the consortium do require 70% agreement on major decisions, so this may be more of a perception issue than anything else. Regardless, this kind of distraction is just what Microsoft would like to see, as they continue to agressively push into this space.
I don't want to put forth the idea that Symbian is on the way out, however. Symbian is still the dominant platform around the world. There are several different varients of Symbian, the most popular being Nokia's Series 60, which is used by handsets with over 100 operators worldwide. Nokia has been a GSM only plaform, but at CTIA, Nokia announced that Series 60 would support CDMA later this year, making it more viable for the US and Asian markets. LG Electronics, who is big in CDMA and holds approximately a quarter of the US CDMA handset market, has taken the middle ground and recently licensed both.
The Register has published an excellent article on the subject, originally created by Wireless Watch, at The Register.
Re: Can Consortiums Compete - Trouble in Symbian Land
Quote:
Originally posted by Convergent Just having returned from CTIA, I was impressed by the number of pdaPhones, and traditional handsets, that operate on the Symbian platform. Symbian has not been a major player in the US, so we are somewhat shielded by how big it is in Europe. It is also somewhat confusing to watch from a pdaPhone perspective, because many Symbian phones are more high-end mobile phones, than pdaPhones.
Symbian has been an independent company since 1998 when it was split off from Psion as a consortium to focus on the platform development. The participants in the consortium have come and gone over the years. In 1998, there was no major contender competing for the same market space, and span of market coverage, that Symbian operates in. The primary alternatives to Symbian in use at that time were the proprietary operating systems developed by the handset makers. Palm and Pocket PC pdaPhones had not even entered the market at that time. But, today we have a very different situation. Symbian now finds itself being persued agressively by none other than the prince of Redmond - Bill Gates. Gates, and Microsoft, have placed a big bullseye on the mobile phone market as the next empire they will topple. Past history has shown that they almost always hit their mark... ventually, and they have a seemingly unending supply of arrows in their quill.
Symbian can always play the "we are open, and you are proprietary" card in the battle, but only if it continues to be a consortium led platform. But, this puts it at a disadvantage when trying to be fast on its feet in the battle. Consortiums have traditionally been slow to move as they try to build consensus and keep the group together. Making matters worse, handset makers and carriers are more interested in content and premium services, than they are in operating systems.
The current trouble for Symbian has to do with the battle for control of the company. Currently, the ownership of the consortium breaks out to Nokia 32.2%, Psion 31.1%, Ericsson 17.5%, Panasonic 7.9%, Samsung 5%, Siemens 4.8%, and Sony Ericsson 1.5%. Psion has agreed to sell its shares to Nokia, which would give Nokia a 63.3% share of the consortium. Ericsson is urging the other consortium members to exercise their right to buy the Psion shares in proportion to their current holdings. If only Ericsson and partner Sony play, then Nokia would end up with a 54.7% share. If one other member plays, then Nokia only ends up with 46.7%. Ericsson wants to keep Nokia below 50%, but the rules of the consortium do require 70% agreement on major decisions, so this may be more of a perception issue than anything else. Regardless, this kind of distraction is just what Microsoft would like to see, as they continue to agressively push into this space.
I don't want to put forth the idea that Symbian is on the way out, however. Symbian is still the dominant platform around the world. There are several different varients of Symbian, the most popular being Nokia's Series 60, which is used by handsets with over 100 operators worldwide. Nokia has been a GSM only plaform, but at CTIA, Nokia announced that Series 60 would support CDMA later this year, making it more viable for the US and Asian markets. LG Electronics, who is big in CDMA and holds approximately a quarter of the US CDMA handset market, has taken the middle ground and recently licensed both.
On a positive note for Symbian, Nokia announced at CTIA that their Series 60
Re: Can Consortiums Compete - Trouble in Symbian Land
Quote:
Originally posted by Convergent many Symbian phones are more high-end mobile phones, than pdaPhones...
This brings up an interesting question. What is the difference between a "high-end" mobile phone and a pdaPhone? In other words, what additional functionality is absolutely required before a device can qualify as a pdaPhone?
One distinguishing factor I've noticed on handsets doesn't necessarily divide high-end mobile and smartphone but it sure does for me - text input.
Some of these phones that say have Pocket PC software (how many different kinds of Windows are there now, lol?) but only a 10-digit keypad simply would never work for me. I have to have a thumbboard, Graffiti area, or something that lets me do alphanumeric characters more easily. I can't imagine doing e-mail on a 10-digit keypad. If a stylus is included there's always things like virtual graffiti, but my preference would probably be thumbboard or FitalyStamp.
I agree with you harmony... but there are others that love the T9 input method. I confess that I haven't cared enough to really try it. I get pretty frustrated trying to input things into my wife's phone's phonebook. But, she likes it so that is all that matters. She doesn't use it for anything but phone calls, however. I have really grown to love a QWERTY keyboard, but I will probably gravitate back to a stylus shortly... just because I haven't done it in a while!
Originally posted by theharmonyguy One distinguishing factor I've noticed on handsets doesn't necessarily divide high-end mobile and smartphone but it sure does for me - text input.
Some of these phones that say have Pocket PC software (how many different kinds of Windows are there now, lol?) but only a 10-digit keypad simply would never work for me. I have to have a thumbboard, Graffiti area, or something that lets me do alphanumeric characters more easily. I can't imagine doing e-mail on a 10-digit keypad. If a stylus is included there's always things like virtual graffiti, but my preference would probably be thumbboard or FitalyStamp.
I have FitalyStamp on my Kyocera 7135 and a QWERTY keyboard on my Sony Clie UX50. IMO, there is no comparison. FitalyStamp is ok. I prefer it over Graffitti, but for serious text/data input, nothing comes close to a full QWERTY keyboard.
Also in thinking about the distinctives, one thought that came to mind was software expandability. If you just go get a standard Nokia for free with a plan, you're stuck with the software. But on a 7135, there are ways to actually download PalmOS apps from web pages right to the handset.
But then I realized - aren't there lots of Symbian apps that you could theoretically install on even a sub-smartphone model? Or are those more hard-coded? I'm not entirely sure how the Symbian model works.
Thats a good question. I don't know if there are restrictions on loading apps on the low-end Symbian phones. I know that some have a stylus, and some don't. I would guess that the ones without aren't as expandable. There are also multiple flavors of Symbian - Series 60 from Nokia and UIC which is on the Sony Ericsson P800 and P900. This certainly adds to a bit of the confusion.
Just having returned from CTIA, I was impressed by the number of pdaPhones, and traditional handsets, that operate on the Symbian platform. Symbian has not been a major player in the US, so we are somewhat shielded by how big it is in Europe. It is also somewhat confusing to watch from a pdaPhone perspective, because many Symbian phones are more high-end mobile phones, than pdaPhones.
A couple of editing artifacts were left over... fixed now.
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