Handset maker, Sony Ericsson, announced that it will discontinue making Symbian-based handsets. The struggling handset maker said that it would remain a member of Symbian foundation but would make more Android-based phones. The announcement came after the release of its latest Symbian based smartphone, Vivaz, on AT&T earlier this month. Sony Ericsson’s Xperia series handsets, that are based on Android OS, have been well received by customers.
Sony Ericsson was one of the first third-party licensees of Symbian OS. In 2002, in collaboration with Motorola, it launched P800 which ran on a quasi-compatible of variant of UIQ, a Symbian-based software platform. Motorola and Sony Ericsson continued developing the OS till 2008. The last UIQ based phones- P1i and RIZR Z10 were also released that year. Sony Ericsson continued making Symbian based phones such as Satio and Vivaz in 2009 but the company also released its first handsets based on Windows Mobile and three Android based handsets- X1/X2 and X10 series that year.
Aldo Liguori, Sony Ericsson spokesman said, "We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system.” Sony Ericsson’s, Chief Creation officer Rikko Sakaguchi said that his company made a significant shift to support Android.
With the rising popularity of iPhone and Google Android OS, Symbian is losing market. Symbian is the official OS of Finnish mobile phone maker, Nokia. The company still continues to make Symbian based phones but it is losing support as handset makers are moving towards Google Android. Symbian’s market share dropped to 42 percent last quarter which was 51 percent at the same time last year.
Nokia recently introduced Symbian 4, a revamped version of the OS and still trying to push it among handset makers.
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