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Symbian OS will not be going anywhere any time soon

“Contrary to many market predictions, Symbian OS will not be going anywhere any time soon,” says an IMS Research report. IMS forecasts that Symbian will continue to enjoy a significant share of the smartphone market “through at least 2011”, and will finish that year with about 42% of the market at the end of 2011.
“Symbian will naturally begin to lose market share to other competitive platforms [notably Windows Mobile and Linux], but the OS will remain a viable contender in the market,” observed senior analyst Alison Bogle. “The platform’s strength in the European market, its backing by Nokia and the S60 group, as well as its support by major operators such as Vodafone will ensure the OS’s strength for the foreseeable future.”

Symbian has just announced OS v9.5, the latest version of its operating system, promising “more features for smartphones at mass market costs”. That means “richer consumer and enterprise experiences” and “significant savings on phone build costs and time-to-market”.