Thursday, July 08, 2004

Nokia Won't Control Symbian

Graeme Wearden, writing for CNet's News.com reports that "Nokia's attempt to win a majority stake in Symbian has been blocked by three fellow shareholders that have increased their holdings in the company." Industry observer TechDirt seems to think this is a good thing, posting the comment "...it is likely a good thing for the future of Symbian, as the less it appears like a Nokia puppet, the better its chances are of winning deals."

I couldn't disagree more. The 800 lb. gorilla that Nokia must worry about in this marketplace is Microsoft. With apologies to my friend David Levin, continuing to have Symbian as a dysfunctional semi-independent entity dragged in numerous directions simultaneously by multiple licensee/owners will never result in a strong answer to the unified strength of Redmond.