Symbian on the decline: Time to move on open source

While unit sales of mobile handsets are growing, as Ars Technica reports, the leading mobile operating system, Symbian, is on the decline. Perhaps it's time for Symbian to accelerate its plans to open source the operating system?

Symbian's dominance in the smartphone space has been taking a hit lately at the expense of other platforms, including Windows Mobile, the iPhone, and open-source alternatives that reduce licensing costs and offer more flexibility. Symbian's business model and development strategy were out of step with the direction in which the industry was collectively moving....

This prompted Symbian's move toward open source, one that seems to be progressing slowly, perhaps due to the search for an executive director for the Symbian Foundation. With Google starting to get its act together on Android, as well as LiMo, Wind River, and other Linux alternatives kicking in, Symbian doesn't have much time.

Symbian needs to not only improve its operating system (OS) story with open source, but it also should look at how it can facilitate the mobile web, similar to what Google is doing for the "PC web" with Chrome. Given my involvement with Volantis, an open-source mobile content optimization company, it's perhaps not surprising that I believe one step would be to blend Symbian's OS with an open-source mobilization effort like Volantis' Ubik.

In other words, take two steps forward - open OS and open mobile content - at the same time to leapfrog other competition content to take just one step forward (open OS). When competing with Apple, in particular, which has made the mobile web less "mobile" with the rising iPhone, Symbian needs more than just an OS.

Google recognizes this with Android and is heavily investing in an application market. Symbian doesn't have the focus to be able to worry about applications, at least not now. It could, however, open the web. Ubik (or some other solution) could help.