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Symbian answers to Android threat: We’ve heard it all before!

Categories: Linux, Symbian
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 4:49 AM

Following Google’s announcement of their Android platform and the overall Open Handset initiative, media was interested to hear from other industry leaders their thoughts. Apparently, Symbian is not afraid of Google even arguing they’ve already seen this kind of initiatives taking place in the past.

Symbian answers to Android threat

Commenting on Android, Symbian’s VP of strategy John Forsyth said: “It’s a bit like the common cold. It keeps coming round and then we go back to business. We don’t participate in these full stop. We make our own platform and we are focused on driving that into the mobile phone market at large ever more aggressively.”

Now I would be more cautious as this time Symbian has Google on the other side of the ring. And even if they’re mostly backed by the big boys like Nokia and other major handset makers, the search giant also has tons of resources to pull from. Finally, let’s not forget, the Google is THE most favored Internet company among most of the people nowadays.

One thing is certain, interesting times are ahead of us and boy I can’t wait to get my hands on the first Android powered mobile phone…

[Via: Mashable]

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • William

    I think Android will fail.

  • Andrew

    Yup, color me shocked – Symbian states that a competing system is nothing to be worried about.

    Here’s a clue as to why you should be worried, Symbian: people developing for your platform don’t like it very much. If Android is really as open as it’s supposed to be, then you’re going to have a REAL run for your money, and I’m sorry, but unless you make some real changes, you’re probably going to lose. Up until this point you’ve only had to compete with Windows Mobile – get ready for a real fight, whether you want it or not!

  • stan

    People, I really don’t understand how you could claim that Android could be a threat for Symbian, I mean the people behind Symbian are the same people who made Psion! They have been around mobile gadgets since the beginning of smartphones, there is no way a new company like Android could catch up to Symbian that fast.. Windows Mobile has been around for years and they haven’t been able to even make a dent into Symbian’s business, let alone a new mobile platform. You people don’t even know what it is or how stable it is. I mean if Android was on its own we wouldn’t even discuss this right now because all of you would know that to create such a platform to compete with Symbian is flat out suicide, but only because Google is behind it that should change something?? Google is not a OS company, they have a leading search engine.. how the are they going to give Android the know-how if they don’t have the know-how???

    It would be the same as if a new search engine was out there and Nokia would buy it and try to develop it and say we will make the Google search engine a run for its money!! It would sound retarded right? Well, how does it sound that Google claims it will make Nokia a run for its money in making phones??

    It’s retarded!