A new analyst report has predicted that smartphone OS leader Symbian will soon be toppled by two relative upstarts of the mobile world.
According to the Diffusion Group, by the end of the decade both Windows and Linux will have greater market share than Symbian.
In 2010, the analyst house said, Symbian will see its market share halved to around 22 percent, while Windows will climb to more than 28 percent and Linux to more than 26 percent.
The Diffusion Group said the change will come about as 3G networks enable more advanced applications made possible by the likes of Microsoft and Linux.
Currently, Symbian shipments dwarf those of rival Microsoft. At last week's 3GSM conference, Symbian announced its 2005 shipments had reached 33 million for the year. Microsoft said it had shipped five million devices in the same period.
In a recent interview with ZDNet UK sister site silicon.com, Jørgen Behrens, vice-president of product management and strategy at Symbian, said he considered Microsoft and Linux less of a commercial threat than the own-brand OSes used by handset vendors on their mid-range phones.
He said: "Microsoft are years behind us. We have the battle-hardened robustness that you get on a system... on 200 networks in 70 countries, rather than just odd operators in odd countries."
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Talkback
Just what the world needs: cell phones that require training classes, expensive tech support, and crash every day.
20 Feb 06 16:44 Reply"Just what the world needs: cell phones that require training classes, expensive tech support, and crash every day"
20 Feb 06 23:14 ReplyI presume you are refering to Microsoft.
Then again cell phones are not made to work as open platforms where the user has any choice to leave the menu system.
Linux could make a difference in that respect, but its still not very interesting for the "normal" user?
However, the whole story is a bit of rubbish as the logical way to go for Symbian is Linux. And I bet they have already put some effort on that.
There is no way Symbian could produce anything with the power of Linux when moving towards the realy advanced smart phones.
And the big boom is not with smart phonres in the firt place.
Also I think Symbian should evaluate companies like Monavista, Wiind River and TrollTech for co-opperation.
Microsoft will never succed due to its sic organisation.
The scientist forgot to add spyware, virus's, and trojans with windoze based phones also.
21 Feb 06 14:04 ReplyYet another piece of USA propaganda. Windows mobile OS frequently crashes, takes forever to load and drains the battery faster than Symbian and Linux who will end up battling it out for supremacy. I use them all and have deep knowledge of Mobile phones. My monies on Linux.
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27 May 06 22:24 ReplyI got so fed up with being ripped-off by the CellPhone Operators I decided that the average guy needs to hit back, so I built the right product.
SIP based WiFi + GSM on a Linux Platform with all the bells and whistles is what is needed and it works beautifully ..or your money back.
It will save all users a fortune on Comms costs and works worldwide via The Internet and a HotSpot access point.