Business Weekly: Symbian wants to use netbook to make another start

According to an article published today by the Business Weekly, a well-known magazine for finance and economics, on January 1, April 29, Beijing time, Symbian is still the top seller in the smartphone operating system, however, its recent market share has declined sharply. However, with the rise of netbook and mid devices, Symbian is expected to make a comeback. Nokia can also use its ownership of Symbian to enter netbooks and expand its market.

 

Plotting to make a comeback

 

It is time to reflect on Symbian. The smartphone operating system's market share fell by 15 percentage points last year after Apple and blackberry and other competitors cracked down. The mobile giant Motorola also gave up support for Symbian.

 

As a result, Symbian (whose brand name has just been changed to the Symbian Foundation) is plotting to make another comeback. Although Symbian still ranks first in the smartphone market, it may soon be able to log on to more electronic devices, including netbooks, GPS, e-book readers, and mobile internet devices (MID ). David Wood, executive vice president of the Symbian Foundation, told Business Weekly: "There are a lot of interesting things in the netbook field. I have never been so busy in my life. We have seen many opportunities ." Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, acquired Symbian last year.

 

Attract computer manufacturers

 

However, wood is very cautious about this, he said, it is not clear how fast Symbian can enter new devices, and which devices will run the operating system. However, once the strategy is successfully implemented, Symbian will be introduced into a brand new field and compete with Microsoft, Google Android, and Linux. At the same time, Symbian will expand to more electronics manufacturers besides Nokia. According to analyst estimates, 90% of current Symbian devices come from Nokia.

 

Symbian is also taking a series of measures to enhance its attractiveness to computer vendors. As a beginner, low price and ease of use will be a good strategy. Ramon Llamas, a senior analyst at the U.S. market research firm IDC, said: "This is intended to open Symbian to more vendors, because relying only on one company will only make it worse and worse."

 

The new Symbian software version will be released in the next year or several years. Wood said that simply stretching an image to fit the screen space would result in image distortion, and the new version of software will automatically correct applications and images for the large screen.

 

Intel Factors

 

Currently, Symbian engineers are still working to ensure software compatibility with more chips. Symbian Executive Director Lee Williams (Lee Williams) announced through a blog on September 22, April 16 that a team of Nokia engineers is currently developing Intel Atom processors, to enable Symbian to work with the chip that is used in most netbooks. The lingzhu processor is expected to be applied to mid, smartphones, and other mobile devices.

 

Currently, Symbian only supports some chips designed for mobile phones, mainly from Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. These chips can also be used in netbooks, but if Symbian wants to gain a higher share in this ever-growing market, it must support Intel's processors.

 

Nokia's entry into netbook

 

Prior to this, Microsoft Windows, Google andorid, and other operating systems have all been extended to areas other than netbook, mid, and other smart phones. Symbian's move follows the pace of these two operating systems.

 

Nokia can use the ownership of Symbian to enter netbook and mid and compete with PC vendors including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Asus. In February this year, Nokia's CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told the media that Nokia's entry into netbook would not be ruled out. Sales of low-price Netbooks are expected to soar by 18%, although sales of smartphones that can access and receive emails are expected to increase by 50% this year.

 

Actually defensive strategy

 

In a sense, Symbian is a defensive strategy. Some analysts suspect that the popularity of devices such as mid will eat away from smartphone sales. Jim zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, said: "Smartphones are more and more like PCs, while PCs are more and more like smartphones ." Currently, the Foundation has developed a moblin operating system for mid. "In fact, netbooks and mid are usually cheaper than smartphones," zanlin said ." According to a recent survey by US market research firm ABI Research of 1000 American adults, about half of respondents said they would buy mid instead of smart phones. Philip Solis, Abi's chief analyst, said that, just as smartphones replace personal digital assistants (PDAs), mid will replace smartphones. "People are willing to use their mobile phones to access the Internet, and they are migrating to large devices," he explained ."

 

The increasing demand for new devices by carriers may also be one of the reasons for Symbian's entry into other devices. To encourage greater wireless data usage, operators have recently started to operate and promote more devices, including netbooks. According to data from the US market research firm IDC, in Western Europe, the sales volume of wireless operators accounts for 25% of the total sales volume of netbooks.

 

Does not exclude any possibility

 

Nokia did not comment on its entry into the new device field. In February this year, a Nokia spokesman sent an email saying: "campekai said that we never discharge any possibility, and we are considering and will continue to actively evaluate a series of business opportunities. However, we will not comment on specific topics ." However, at the April 23 shareholders' meeting, Conway said that with the help of Symbian, Nokia plans to expand its smartphone functionality to new devices, and broaden the definition of smart phones.

 

Symbian does have a lot to do. One challenge is that most Netbooks are more familiar with Windows directories, and 90% of netbooks are currently running Windows. Don Paterson, marketing director for Microsoft Windows clients, emailed: "Although we cannot comment on the Symbian plan, we are still confident, he believes that the partner and users will continue to choose windows."

 

Symbian also needs to be further upgraded to support the Intel Atom processor just like other chips. Wood said: "I think more developers are willing to join in.

 

Link: http://tech.qq.com/a/20090429/000300.htm

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