Symbian Components to Be Offered As Open Source Software
Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo announced today their intent to unite Symbian OS, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create one open mobile software platform. Together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone they plan to establish the Symbian Foundation to extend the appeal of this unified software platform.
To enable the Foundation, Nokia today announced plans to acquire the remaining shares in Symbian and then contribute the Symbian and S60 software to the Foundation. The net cash outlay from Nokia to purchase the approximately 52% of Symbian shares it does not already own will be approximately EUR 264 million.
Sony Ericsson and Motorola also announced their intention to contribute technology from UIQ and DoCoMo has also indicated its willingness to contribute its MOAP(S) assets. From these contributions, the Foundation will provide a unified platform with common UI framework.