Nokia-WP7: What's the future of Symbian, MeeGo?

Helsinki, Feb 11: We have heard about the historic alliance that has taken place between Nokia and Microsoft. We can now expect Nokia smartphones to be powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Operating System (OS) in the near future. However, most of the Symbian and MeeGo users are confused about the future of their mobile OS.

While the Symbian, which is still the No.1 OS, is used on mobile phones across the world, Nokia has several of its models operating on MeeGo. Symbian and MeeGo users shared their thoughts through social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter, demanding more focus on these operating systems.

Several Symbian and MeeGo users vended their anger on Nokia CEO Stephen Elop for developing a partnership with his former company. Some users advised Nokia to cancel the alliance with Microsoft and adopt Google's Android OS for a better future. Numerous other users expressed their concerns regarding the possibility of "death" of Symbian and MeeGo.

According to Nokia's new "broad strategic partnership" with Microsoft, Windows Phone 7 will be Nokia's primary smartphone platform. This means that the company will focus on WP7 smartphones, which will give a new energy to them after facing loss to Google's Android devices and Apple's iPhone.

"Nokia wouldn"t be just be another Windows Phone OEM. Nokia plans to help drive and define the future of the platform. That could include contributing expertise on hardware optimization, language support, customization of the software and helping bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies," Nokia said in its website.

However, Nokia clarified its stand on Symbian and MeeGo. Nokia said that MeeGo will transform into an open-source mobile operating system project that will emphasize on long-term market exploration of next generation devices, platforms and user experiences. Nokia also said that it will launch more MeeGo phones soon.

Also, the Symbian OS will become a franchise platform, thus leveraging previous investments to harvest additional value. Nokia expects to sell approximately 150 million (150,000,000) more Symbian devices in the years to come.

OneIndia News