Nokia’s proposal to take control of Symbian Ltd., is its first salvo against search engine company Google Inc. over the cellphone software.
Nokia, which has nearly 40 per cent of the global cellphone market, said it was offering to buy the 52 per cent of the operating-system maker that it does not already own for about $410 million. It said the acquisition is supported by all Symbian management and shareholders.
The company says it will open up the Symbian operating system, which is currently used mainly in high-end phones, to all manufacturers for free in order to keep them from using competing software, such as that being developed by Google. The free operating system will remove royalty payments to Symbian and thus lower costs for manufacturers and carriers.
“Our vision is to become the most widely used software platform on the planet, and indeed today Symbian OS leads its market by any measure,” said Nigel Clifford, chief executive officer of Symbian, in a statement.
“Today’s announcement is a bold new step to achieve that vision by embracing a complete and proven platform, offered in an open way, designed to stimulate innovation which is at the heart of everything we do.”
Nokia also announced the formation of the Symbian Foundation, an organization devoted to further developing the operating system. Its members include fellow cellphone manufacturers Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG Electronics and Samsung; carriers AT&T, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone; and hardware makers Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics.
Google preparing Android
Nokia said it expects the acquisition to be completed by the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval.
Google, meanwhile, is getting closer to launching phones with its free, open-source operating system, Android. Last year, the company announced Android was being developed by the Open Handset Alliance, a group that also counts among its members many of the Symbian Foundation signators. LG, Motorola, Samsung, NTT DoCoMo and Texas Instruments are all members of both groups.
Google’s group also has considerable additional heft with international carriers T-Mobile and Telefonica, as well as the world’s largest by subscribers, China Mobile, as members.
A number of manufacturers and carriers are set to launch phones using Android later this year and in early 2009.
Although Google has yet to sell a single phone using its software, the free, open-source models of both Android and Symbian will put pressure on companies who are making proprietary operating systems, such as Microsoft Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd.
