Nokia acquires Symbian LTD; Symbian Foundation closer to launch

Guest post by: Brian James Kirk

Today Nokia announced that it has completed its acquisition of Symbian Limited. In June, Nokia announced a plan to purchase Symbian for $410 million. It is part of an effort to compete against consortiums behind such mobile operating systems as Google's Android and Windows Mobile. Nokia will offer phone manufacturers membership to the Symbian Foundation, a non-profit alliance dedicated to developing Symbian OS's open-source future.

For an annual membership fee of $1,500, manufacturers can deploy Symbian OS without royalties. Since the announcement, nearly 60 companies, including AT&T, LG Electronics, Motorola, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson have indicated that they plan to take advantage of the offer, making it a larger alliance than that which is backing Google's Android. The company hopes the platform will be available by June 2010.