Symbian

Symbian is a discontinued <a href="/facts/Mobile_operating_system/wysBVca1">mobile operating system</a> (OS) and <a href="/facts/Computing_platform/DmKwp5Bk">computing platform</a> designed for <a href="/facts/Smartphone/cSIrBMWG">smartphones</a>. It was originally developed as a <a href="/facts/Proprietary_software/9zcskxYL">proprietary software</a> OS for <a href="/facts/Personal_digital_assistant/fLTT1Uqy">personal digital assistants</a> in 1998 by the <a href="/facts/Symbian_Ltd./0wPSCjGl">Symbian Ltd.</a> consortium. Symbian OS is a descendant of <a href="/facts/Psion_(company)/LeoluAHp">Psion</a>'s <a href="/facts/EPOC_(operating_system)/UECrcuYY">EPOC</a>, and was released exclusively on <a href="/facts/ARM_architecture/SALsYA79">ARM</a> <a href="/facts/Central_processing_unit/Jxp1bqMV">processors</a>, although an unreleased <a href="/facts/X86/Kypq5fgu">x86</a> port existed. Symbian was used by many major mobile phone brands, like <a href="/facts/Samsung/oNXUwDjn">Samsung</a>, <a href="/facts/Motorola/ztqczx68">Motorola</a>, <a href="/facts/Sony_Mobile/RX3xYCDy">Sony Ericsson</a>, and above all by <a href="/facts/Nokia/bCleFoF4">Nokia</a>. It was also prevalent in Japan by brands including <a href="/facts/Fujitsu/6e5gvNSa">Fujitsu</a>, <a href="/facts/Sharp_Corporation/IbmkAjKB">Sharp</a> and <a href="/facts/Mitsubishi/ac1qkNMu">Mitsubishi</a>. As a pioneer that established the smartphone industry, it was the most popular smartphone OS on a worldwide average until the end of 2010, at a time when smartphones were in limited use, when it was overtaken by <a href="/facts/IOS/mK5cggH5">iOS</a> and <a href="/facts/Android_(operating_system)/nNyHb0xz">Android</a>. It was notably less popular in <a href="/facts/North_America/djNjCQIl">North America</a>.
The Symbian OS platform is formed of two components: one being the <a href="/facts/Microkernel/wsaWtYCU">microkernel</a>-based operating system with its associated <a href="/facts/Library_(computing)/xRzL3P7q">libraries</a>, and the other being the <a href="/facts/User_interface/e9sPEWVD">user interface</a> (as <a href="/facts/Middleware/HobNosz9">middleware</a>), which provides the graphical shell atop the OS. The most prominent user interface was the <a href="/facts/S60_(software_platform)/NfBtjoKf">S60</a> (formerly Series 60) platform built by Nokia, first released in 2002 and powering most Nokia Symbian devices. <a href="/facts/UIQ/wLtBoWBx">UIQ</a> was a competing user interface mostly used by Motorola and Sony Ericsson that focused on <a href="/facts/Pen_computing/7SrB0mhR">pen</a>-based devices, rather than a traditional keyboard interface from S60. Another interface was the <a href="/facts/MOAP/m4dpgtbh">MOAP</a>(S) platform from carrier <a href="/facts/NTT_DoCoMo/vW4uaTaj">NTT DoCoMo</a> in the Japanese market. Applications for these different interfaces were not compatible with each other, despite each being built atop Symbian OS. Nokia became the largest shareholder of Symbian Ltd. in 2004 and purchased the entire company in 2008. The non-profit <a href="/facts/Symbian_Foundation/GeGIhQEM">Symbian Foundation</a> was then created to make a <a href="/facts/Royalty-free/jygPgwe5">royalty-free</a> successor to Symbian OS. Seeking to unify the platform, S60 became the Foundation's favoured interface and UIQ stopped development. The <a href="/facts/Touchscreen/zpSKDFpe">touchscreen</a>-focused Symbian^1 (or S60 5th Edition) was created as a result in 2009. Symbian^2 (based on MOAP) was used by NTT DoCoMo, one of the members of the Foundation, for the Japanese market. Symbian^3 was released in 2010 as the successor to S60 5th Edition, by which time it became fully <a href="/facts/Free_software/IaoVtJXn">free software</a>. The transition from a proprietary operating system to a free software project is believed to be one of the largest in history. Symbian^3 received the Anna and Belle updates in 2011.
The Symbian Foundation disintegrated in late 2010 and Nokia took back control of the OS development. In February 2011, Nokia, by then the only remaining company still supporting Symbian outside Japan, announced that it would use <a href="/facts/Microsoft/nGIDDXdx">Microsoft</a>'s <a href="/facts/Windows_Phone_7/smNsH1IJ">Windows Phone 7</a> as its primary smartphone platform, while Symbian would be gradually wound down. Two months later, Nokia moved the OS to proprietary licensing, only collaborating with the Japanese OEMs and later outsourced Symbian development to <a href="/facts/Accenture/MQJDvxMn">Accenture</a>. Although support was promised until 2016, including two major planned updates, by 2012 Nokia had mostly abandoned development and most Symbian developers had already left Accenture, and in January 2014 Nokia stopped accepting new or changed Symbian software from developers. The <a href="/facts/Nokia_808_PureView/GuQQAv59">Nokia 808 PureView</a> in 2012 was officially the last Symbian smartphone from Nokia. NTT DoCoMo continued releasing OPP(S) (Operator Pack Symbian, successor of MOAP) devices in Japan, which still act as middleware on top of Symbian. Phones running this include the F-07F [ja] from <a href="/facts/Fujitsu/6e5gvNSa">Fujitsu</a> and SH-07F [ja] from <a href="/facts/Sharp_Corporation/IbmkAjKB">Sharp</a> in 2014.

Symbian open-in-new

Symbian