Symbian Platform Outlook(Source : OVUM Report)

Publication Date: March 2011

Author: Nick Dillon

SUMMARY

In a nutshell

This report profiles the Symbian operating system – a software platform for mobile phones – in terms of its future development and the opportunities it presents for mobile application development.

Ovum view

Following a ten-year reign as the leading smartphone platform, Symbian's dominance of the mobile
industry has come to an end. Faced with strong competition from new smartphone platforms, Symbian was first spun out into an open-source foundation, but when this failed to gain the desired traction, the platform was taken under the control of its main supporter, Nokia. Not even Nokia could save the aging platform, however, and in February 2011 it was dropped as the handset manufacturer's primary smartphone software, with Nokia choosing instead to use Windows Phone. Without backing from any major OEMs, it is now a question of when rather than if the platform will be completely phased out.

Nokia has recently brought a number of improvements to the platform, such as updating the user interface and adopting the Qt cross-platform framework, though this is little consolation for Symbian developers, who Ovum would advise to review alternative mobile platforms going forward.

Key messages

 Symbian is no longer the leading smartphone platform, having been overtaken by Android.

 Nokia's decision to adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform means it is likely that Symbian will be entirely replaced over the next three to four years.

 The duration of Symbian's remaining lifespan is largely dependent on how successful Nokia and Microsoft are at pushing Windows Phone onto lower-end smartphone devices and how ambitious Nokia is with its Series 40 operating system.

 Following the closure of the Symbian Foundation, Ovum believes that the platform will not be adopted by any other OEMs.

 The adoption of Qt as the sole development environment for Symbian is a positive move, though little consolation for Symbian developers.

Recommendations

At first glance, the future for Symbian looks bleak; the last few months have seen the closure of the Symbian Foundation, which was followed by Nokia's decision to replace the platform with Windows Phone as its primary smartphone operating system. However, given the large investments Nokia has made in the platform, it is likely to be exist in significant volumes for the next couple of years at least, as the firm will extract all the value it can from the platform, especially in the mid- and low-end smartphone market.

Recommendations for Nokia

Nokia should extract as much value as it can from Symbian before completely replacing it with Windows Phone. To do this it should focus on pushing the platform down onto lower-end hardware, improving the user interface and third-party developer support. While Symbian^3 was definitely a step in the right direction, Nokia still has plenty of work to do to catch up with Android and iOS in terms of user experience, and should focus a large proportion of its efforts here.

Recommendations for OEMs

Nearly all existing Symbian licensees have already abandoned the platform, choosing instead to use Google's Android operating system. Given that Symbian's already declining market share will be further accelerated by Nokia's decision to abandon the platform, Ovum would advise OEMs who do not possess their own platform to continue to develop and invest in their existing Android and Windows Phone portfolios rather than re-adopt Symbian.

Recommendations for developers

Despite Nokia's recent decision to replace Symbian with Windows Phone, developers who are currently writing for Symbian/Qt should not necessarily drop the platform straight away as it will still maintain a sizeable market share for the next two to three years. However, Ovum would advise these developers to evaluate alterative platforms as the Symbian market is likely to be negligible beyond this point. Ovum also advises developers who do not currently write for Symbian or Qt against adopting the platform.