DISQUS

Ben · 11 months ago

I think Symbian has been grossly underestimated in this space -- although partly b/c of it not doing anything -- but anybody with 60-70% market share, the backing of the world's largest handset manufacturer, and a practically unbeatable presence in lower-end smartphones will be hard to unseat. It'll be interesting to see which OS's survive -- it would appear that the last 5 standing will be Symbian, iPhone OS, Windows Mobile, Android, and RIM's OS -- whether or not the industry allows any more consolidation than that is an entirely different question altogether...
matthaus · 11 months ago

Your arguments are all valid, Ben.

Adding to that I left my meeting with David with an that Symbian's got a clear game plan. It addresses many points which are important to startups. It remains to be seen how well they can execute, of course.

What gets me excited is what all the technology roadmaps by the OS + the technology adoption which comes with device sales means for startups. There's a clear commitment to the mobile web among the big players - with the exception of Ballmer's Windows Mobile, imo. That competition is really good for the industry and startups in particular.