Nokia N-Series ditching Symbian in favour of Maemo

Word on the street is that Symbian’s on the way out for Nokia’s N-series, and Maemo’s the future…

With the launch of the much hyped N900 in London last night, members of the Maemo OS team confirmed that Nokia will phase out Symbian software from it’s N-Series handsets over the next two years – with Maemo being the only OS on any N-Series handset by 2012.

However, there are still plans for further N-series handsets on the Symbian platform, not to mention a new version due next year. This is a tacit admission that whilst Maemo offers a far more user-friendly experience, it still lacks the following that Symbian has built up over years; phasing-in will at least allow Maemo to be slowly introduced to the masses.

As far as we know Nokia has no plans to introduce the Maemo OS onto any of their other devices outside of the N-Series. Current users of Symbian based handsets need not worry as it will still presumably form the base OS for many of Nokia’s handsets, most notably the E-Series and X-series.

The Symbian platform has had a rough year in the mobile market, lagging behind other operating systems in terms of stability and user experience. We’ve heard rumours of Samsung dropping Symbian from their handset portfolio (though these have been aggressively refuted by Samsung itself); meanwhile other manufacturers have turned to Android on many of their handsets.

Tellingly, Nokia’s introduction of the Maemo OS on a high-profile device such as the N900 may indicate a more significant long-term shift away from its relationship with the Symbian platform – albeit perhaps only on high-end models.

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