It’s the end of an era: the once ascendant Symbian OS has finally been toppled from the throne of most popular smartphone platform by — who else — Google and its Android OS.
According to research firm Canalyst, handset makers sold 32.9 million Android phones last quarter, a sevenfold growth over the same period a year ago, compared with Symbian sales of just 31 million. That ends a decade-long run for Nokia’s Symbian, which invented the smartphone form factor but simply couldn’t evolve to keep up with the nascent iOS and Android operating systems, which have quickly become ubiquitous.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Nokia, who are struggling to regain credibility in a market that they once dominated exclusively. Last week, Nokia warned that 2011 was already looking like a dire year, and new Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has gone on record that Nokia needs to “change faster” in order to compete.
Elop plans on announcing a new strategy for the beleaguered company on February 11th that is anticipated to include an announcement that Nokia will adopt Android itself. Hey! If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
Read more at Reuters
View the original article here
