Symbian Smartphone OS - 2004 The Year Reviewed

We look back at 2004 and picks the key events and technologies that have shaped the Symbian OS ecosystem. And no year end review would be without a few predictions for 2005

(PRWEB) January 6, 2005 -- 2004 has been an exciting year for Symbian OS and the ecosystem building around it. Looking back at 2004 the biggest change has been the degree of confidence in and about the Symbian OS economy. This year's Symbian Expo underlined this growth with the number of exhibitors and attendees increasing significantly, not to mention the upbeat atmosphere. (We must express out thanks to Cognima for helping out with our coverage.) Much of this enthusiasm was also carried through to the Nokia Mobility Conference.

There were several positive indicators of maturity in both device and content development during 2004. Developments in the testing tools market for example. Back in January we looked at the Metrowerks CodeTEST toolset, which still occupies a unique position as the only Symbian OS tool for testing dynamic code quality. Although Mobile Innovation addresses this aspect of quality with the static analysis tool Code Scanner. Device testing tools veteran Test Quest were joined by Mercury in providing Symbian OS testing tools while both Digia and Mobile Innovation updated their device based tools.

More info provided at symbianone.com

So that was 2004, what is going to happen in 2005?

For Symbian OS itself 2005 is likely to be the year of the security. A number of SymbianOne's contacts have hinted at significant changes to the OS in 2005 with security being top of the agenda. Indeed several sources have suggested that security will be a key commercial differentiator for Symbian OS in 2005, providing Operators with an unmatched secure, tamperproof environment. 2005 is shaping up to be an even more exciting year for Symbian OS with the fruits of 2004s major investment starting to show.

3GSM in February is likely to be the pivotal event in the first half of the year (and you do not really need a crystal ball to predict that.) SymbianOne expects UIQ to be very much at the forefront with the first UIQ 3.0 devices almost certainly making their debut at 3GSM. SymbianOne also expects that it will not simply be new devices but new licensees too, spurred on by the single handed capabilities in UIQ 3.0.

2005 is also certainly going to see Series 60 licensees becoming more active. Currently none of the licensee outside Nokia have launched more than one phone apiece. In 2005 SymbianOne expects several licensees to launch multiple Series 60 device ranges.

Finally the most important feature for 2005 will be the dominance of the Symbian OS economy. While 2004 has seen much debate on the relative merits of various mobile platforms they have all overlooked the importance of the community of application and content developers creating an economy around the platform. The fragmentation in Linux, uncertainty about Palm and poor performance by Microsoft is likely to see the Symbian economy surge ahead in 2005, building a synergistic powerhouse that will keep the Symbian OS at the forefront of the market for 2005 and beyond.

SymbianOne will be with you throughout 2005 with the latest news and in depth features, we already have a hectic schedule for January and February.

Note: links and more info related to this article are now available online at SymbianOne.com.

About SymbianOne
SymbianOne.com is the complete resource for keeping an eye on the Symbian market place with regular news and a weekly newsletter for up to date coverage of developments. This is complemented by in depth coverage of market sectors, such as games, development tools, usage case studies, and market analysis and employment opportunities. A joint venture with offices in Canada and New Zealand SymbianOne provides a unique global view of the Symbian economy.

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