Nokia will stop using Symbian in its N-series smartphones this year, relegating the aging operating system to mainstream handsets.
Nokia's best smartphones will soon use MeeGo, a platform that combines Nokia's experimental Maemo operating system with Intel's Moblin. In addition to smartphones, the OS is targeted for tablets, netbooks, smartbooks and televisions. Symbian will still be used in Nokia's E- and X-series devices, according to CNet Australia.
Symbian's N-Series swan song will be the N8. The phone was actually notable partly for its 12-megapixel camera, but also for being the first smartphone to use Symbian^3, an attempt to modernize the operating system. I imagine the news about Symbian's downgrade puts a damper on any excitement the N8 had generated, but perhaps that's for the best; the N8 impressions I've read paint Symbian^3 as feeling out of date even before release.
As of now, we don't know much about what MeeGo will look like on smartphones. MeeGo's Web site shows the operating system on a netbook, but there's been little talk of smartphone support thus far. CNet says Nokia's first MeeGo phone will be the N9, but wasn't sure if it would be available this year.
Downgrading Symbian to mainstream phones seems like a logical move. Though Symbian has a rich history as Nokia's flagship operating system, it just can't compete with Android and iOS, which are now moving into larger devices such as tablets and netbooks. MeeGo is being designed specifically to do battle on all those fronts. Meanwhile, users of Nokia's mid-range devices will still get a flexible and powerful open-source operating system out of Symbian, so everyone wins.
