Holiday Gift Guide »

Android and Symbian Duke it Out Over Open Source

Categories: Android, Developer, Symbian
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 6:14 AM

“Android is not open, it’s a marketing label. It’s controlled by Google. … [It's] just another Linux effort with a popular consumer brand attached to them,” said Symbian Foundation director Lee Williams in a recent interview. Yow. Dem’s fightin’ words. In retort, Google VP of mobile Rich Miner took a stab at the Symbian Foundation: “I’d say that if you need to join some sort of a club in order to get access to the source code – so membership in some consortium or some other group – then it really truly isn’t open.” Oh man, the gloves are off now, aren’t they? Let’s be fair, neither side is entirely clean – one recoups costs by membership, the other through controlled commercial rollouts. Neither is really the utopian epitome of the open source movement, even if it’s at the core of both of their strategies. Any developers in the house have a particular preference?

[via Silicon]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • Zak

    I’ve never used/owned an Android Device. However, I’m pretty sure I’ll be willing to ditch my Symbian phone for an Android device.

    Android just seems better.. Symbian is so 2005!

  • Zak

    Simon, you should create an OS poll, similar to what Will’s done w/ the iphone and Pre

    It would be interesting to see what everyone’s favorite OS is, or what they’re most excited for.

  • Simon Sage

    Good call, Zak! After seeing the turnout for that first poll, we’re going to start doing them every week. Probably recycling that same Mortal Kombat background every time, too. :)