Software Becomes the Smartphone Battlefield - Page 2

Still, Milanesi said open source platforms offer benefits as well, with Android being the newest example. For one thing, open platforms can help handset makers cut down the time to market, which can be a competitive coup.

"Mobile platform [decisions] are viewed as a cost aspect and often chosen for providing the quickest way to market," Milanesi explained. "There is also a bigger development community with open platforms and so the devices can become richer, quicker."

Converts to open source

Increasingly, handset players are buying into that line of thinking.

Over a year ago, Palm announced it was embarking on a new, propriety OS designed for its lower-end consumer line. Aside from promising that the new platform -- scheduled for the first half of 2009 -- would offer improved performance, reliability, stability and flexibility, the handset vendor has provided few specifics. One detail it has let slip is that the new system will be built on a Linux core.

"We have always believed open platforms are tremendously valuable for building a strong developer community that can offer innovative and specialized add-on software," Deziel said.

"We do keep abreast of mobile platform developments, and believe our current efforts are the right move for Palm today," Deziel said. "Our plans are to support popular services on our platform, offering a great customer experience through tight integration."

Nokia, meanwhile, is undertaking an ambitious effort behind the Symbian platform, which the world's handset maker announced it was buying out earlier this year, with plans to open source.

Once the offering becomes open to other handset manufacturers, vendors relying on proprietary operating systems may being thinking differently about open source.

"The acquisition is good for the industry and will put more pressure on Microsoft," Milanesi said, explaining that Microsoft's Windows Mobile license fees range from $5 to $20 a device, which ultimately adds to consumer handset costs.

"Hopefully, Symbian will get more interest from other players and not be so dependent on Nokia because it could provide the best-of-breed platform," she added.

That's exactly what Nokia hopes, according to David Rivas, the company's vice president for technology management devices' research and development.

It's not that simple, however. Nokia has long been juggling a number of operating systems. At present, it has three platforms in play: the S30 and S40 proprietary systems and its the higher-end S60, which is a Symbian platform.

While declining to talk about whether the Finnish handset maker has based the upcoming Tube on Symbian, Rivas told InternetNews.com that Nokia's longtime multiple mobile platform strategy has been critical to its deep and extensive product line.

"It may seem sensible to have just one software play, and some companies do that, but when you have such a deep product line as Nokia, there is a need to have systems that support such depth," Rivas said.

"The S60 is a relatively mature platform and has played a large part in where we are right now in handset development," Rivas said, adding that having three mature systems has provided significant cost savings. "It just wouldn't make sense to go to one platform."

Nevertheless, Rivas said the Symbian purchase is aimed at creating a unified industry handset environment, and described the acquisition and planned opening of the OS as one of Nokia's "most important steps" in many years.

"It's not only a free platform, it's a mature one, and that's the criteria handset makers face in platform decisions today," he said.

Nokia, which is not part of the Open Handset Alliance that brought Android to market, is not looking to join the open source group.

"When anything new comes up, it's interesting and forces us to strive to perform better ... We're not so confident that we can't learn form what's happening in the industry," Rivas said, adding that Android's arrival "reaffirmed our move to push an open and free platform" into the market.