Is it too late to save Symbian?

After an age of putting up with the somewhat aged Symbian S60 OS, Nokia has put forward plans for an improved UI for the Symbian platform, due to be called Symbian 4. But is it too late to save this smartphone platform that has been superseded by the iPhone, BlackBerry and even Windows Mobile?

Symbian’s market share has taken a bashing since the introduction of the iPhone, RIM’s push into the consumer space and the introduction of Android, according to Gartner’s mobile devices research director Carolina Milanesi.

The third quarter of 2008 saw Symbian with 49.7 per cent of market share, but in the same quarter of 2009, this dropped to 44.6 per cent.

“Symbian has captured users, but is not keeping them,” she explained.

What’s the matter?

So where has this shift come from?

“I would not really say that Windows Mobile is a successful platform today as it is suffering tremendously and we are all eagerly waiting for the next version. As far as Symbian there is not something wrong with the actual OS is the user interface Series 60 that needs revamping and that needs a much richer touch experience,” Milanesi said.

And this is exactly what the Symbian Foundation plans to do with the newest UI. Whether it takes on Nokia suggestions is another matter.

From released screenshots, it looks as though the newest Nokia UI will be similar to Nokia’s other platform interest – Maemo.

There won’t just be two separate homescreens as there was on the latest Eseries devices such as the E71, but three screens with fully customisable widgets and shortcuts.

The UI is divided into four separate areas - contacts, music, photos and applications, and according to the Finnish manufacturer, context-based menus provide faster access to common commands.

Touchscreen

The newest version of Symbian’s UI has been designed to work with a touchscreen rather than a more traditional screen and QWERTY approach as we have seen from some of the most successful Symbian launches in the past.

Symbian has focused on touch in recent months, which is no surprise given touchscreens are leading the way across the board, but even this doesn’t seem to have had the take-up manufacturers such as Nokia have expected.

Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at Quocirca doesn’t think that Symbian fits with the rest of the market’s touchcsreen offerings.

“As many Apple following hardware vendors are finding, it’s not simply about having a touch screen, but what do you do with it," he said.

"Tightly integrated, used for everything, fitting with user needs (and expectations/aspirations) is a must. They are becoming an accepted and expected UI, so useful to add, but it has to be more integral.”

Advanced tech

Although much of the problem with Symbian’s downfall can be blamed upon the platform's UI, much can be said about the functionality of the OS and what it allows manufacturers to include hardware-wise.

Bamforth thinks that Symbian is somewhat limited when it comes to packing advanced technologies into smartphones.

“The problem now for Symbian is that it’s no longer about a mobile phone with other stuff, but a multi-purpose device that includes a phone – the emphasis is IT, not telephony alone.”

He explained that although Symbian S60 is a smartphone platform, it slots into the ‘smart-phone-enough’ market, but will increasingly struggle in the mobile internet device market.

Email to a friend

Print this page