Monday, March 4, 2002
The Symbian Dilemma - no product, no share, no developer
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "THOUGHT" @ 02:13 AM
http://www.cbronline.com/cbr.nsf/latestnews/5E538263357B291480256B6F00160285?OpenDocument
A couple of days after my "Innovate or get hit in the head" post, we get showered with Pocket PC Phone Editions, Smartphone 2002s, new partnerships and so on. It might look like it was a bit too well orchestrated, but I really had no idea what Microsoft had lined up for GSM World. Since CeBIT is just a couple of days away, I won't come up with anymore "Andy's List of Things"...
However, let's take a look at Symbian. What's up with those companies? They've got this operating system laying around and no one is using it!? Two years ago I attended a wireless developer conference and listened to a Symbian presentation. They showed really jazzy Powerpoint slides of reference designs and developer tools to come. What have we got today, two years after? Answer: really jazza Powerpoint slides of reference designs, developer tools to come, one Ericsson implementation (that even their Technical Lead is embarrassed of), and one Nokia implementation that is as sexy as a three year old Handheld PC.
Today's issue of "Computer Sweden" is dominated by the cover story "Mobile Giants fear Microsoft". The article's analysis is that Ericsson and Nokia don't have any plans of letting Microsoft in. Mats Thoren, Information Manager at Ericsson, says: "Our goal is to make Symbian the dominating operating system in mobile phones."
Mats finnish colleuage at Nokia Mobile Phones, Pekka Isomomppi, continues: "Symbian is the best option, since it is built on open standards".
Gartner analyst Ben Wood concludes: "At the moment there's nothing that indicates that Nokia or Ericsson would let Microsoft's software in their phones. They keep a tight grip on Symbian. The fear is that Microsoft will grab the whole hand, if you give them the little finger. There is a chance, however, that many new products will be announces at CeBIT and give the market a whole new face".
Microsoft Product Manager, Magnus Ahlberg, is quoted a number of times in the article. His major points are:
"PDAs and mobile phones play a significant role in our .NET strategy"
"Microsoft's ambition is to get a large part of the smartphone market"
"Microsoft wants to make it really easy for new players to establish themselves on the market"
"Microsoft wants to partner with Nokia and Ericsson, but we realize that that is not likely for the time being. They are both good at making hardware, while we are good at making software."
"Microsoft has the developers on our side"
"The Microsoft Smartphone 2002 built by Compal is 33% lighter and has more features than Nokia 7650."
I just read the article "Symbian in Danger of Alienating ISVs Says AvantGo" at the Computer Business Review Online that takes this analysis a bit further. (Note! You need to register at their site to read the article. Registration is free.)
Go and read the article and take a look at the Symbian Dilemma: no product, no share, no developer.
Some quotes:
"Mobile operating system vendor Symbian Ltd is in danger of losing the support of wireless business application developers unless its supporters can bring compelling devices to market as soon as possible."
"Richard Owen, CEO of Hayward, California-based wireless software vendor AvantGo Inc said his company has ports of its supply chain, sales force automation and field force automation packages for the London, UK-based company's operating system "pretty much ready to go". However, changing market factors mean that they might never be launched commercially."
"Owen pointed to the failure of Symbian's partners to capitalize on the Psion spin-off's early lead in the race to develop high-end operating systems for mobile devices for his company's reticence to bring compatible products to market. To date only Nokia Oyj's 9210 Communicator and LM Ericsson Telefon AB's R380 models have hit the high street."
"This has given chief rival Microsoft Corp the chance to fill the breach with its own PDA and smart phone offerings. And with the recent launch of Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, Microsoft's first real foray into Symbian's territory of truly converged phone/PDA operating systems, Symbian's advantage seems to have been all but eroded."
"I have no idea why there are no devices. I thought they were further along last year than they are now. [The decision of Symbian shareholders Motorola and Psion to cancel their jointly developed Odin device last year] took a huge amount of wind out of their sails," said Owen."
"He said he believes Symbian's best chance of re-establishing itself now rests with how quickly and successfully Symbian shareholder Nokia can bring compelling devices using the platform to market."
"It's Nokia versus Microsoft now and Symbian is the squash racquet," said Owen. [The other Symbian shareholders] will be looking to Nokia for prodcuts and services. If Nokia brings out a compelling product then Motorola and the rest may follow."
A couple of days after my "Innovate or get hit in the head" post, we get showered with Pocket PC Phone Editions, Smartphone 2002s, new partnerships and so on. It might look like it was a bit too well orchestrated, but I really had no idea what Microsoft had lined up for GSM World. Since CeBIT is just a couple of days away, I won't come up with anymore "Andy's List of Things"...
However, let's take a look at Symbian. What's up with those companies? They've got this operating system laying around and no one is using it!? Two years ago I attended a wireless developer conference and listened to a Symbian presentation. They showed really jazzy Powerpoint slides of reference designs and developer tools to come. What have we got today, two years after? Answer: really jazza Powerpoint slides of reference designs, developer tools to come, one Ericsson implementation (that even their Technical Lead is embarrassed of), and one Nokia implementation that is as sexy as a three year old Handheld PC.
Today's issue of "Computer Sweden" is dominated by the cover story "Mobile Giants fear Microsoft". The article's analysis is that Ericsson and Nokia don't have any plans of letting Microsoft in. Mats Thoren, Information Manager at Ericsson, says: "Our goal is to make Symbian the dominating operating system in mobile phones."
Mats finnish colleuage at Nokia Mobile Phones, Pekka Isomomppi, continues: "Symbian is the best option, since it is built on open standards".
Gartner analyst Ben Wood concludes: "At the moment there's nothing that indicates that Nokia or Ericsson would let Microsoft's software in their phones. They keep a tight grip on Symbian. The fear is that Microsoft will grab the whole hand, if you give them the little finger. There is a chance, however, that many new products will be announces at CeBIT and give the market a whole new face".
Microsoft Product Manager, Magnus Ahlberg, is quoted a number of times in the article. His major points are:
"PDAs and mobile phones play a significant role in our .NET strategy"
"Microsoft's ambition is to get a large part of the smartphone market"
"Microsoft wants to make it really easy for new players to establish themselves on the market"
"Microsoft wants to partner with Nokia and Ericsson, but we realize that that is not likely for the time being. They are both good at making hardware, while we are good at making software."
"Microsoft has the developers on our side"
"The Microsoft Smartphone 2002 built by Compal is 33% lighter and has more features than Nokia 7650."
I just read the article "Symbian in Danger of Alienating ISVs Says AvantGo" at the Computer Business Review Online that takes this analysis a bit further. (Note! You need to register at their site to read the article. Registration is free.)
Go and read the article and take a look at the Symbian Dilemma: no product, no share, no developer.
Some quotes:
"Mobile operating system vendor Symbian Ltd is in danger of losing the support of wireless business application developers unless its supporters can bring compelling devices to market as soon as possible."
"Richard Owen, CEO of Hayward, California-based wireless software vendor AvantGo Inc said his company has ports of its supply chain, sales force automation and field force automation packages for the London, UK-based company's operating system "pretty much ready to go". However, changing market factors mean that they might never be launched commercially."
"Owen pointed to the failure of Symbian's partners to capitalize on the Psion spin-off's early lead in the race to develop high-end operating systems for mobile devices for his company's reticence to bring compatible products to market. To date only Nokia Oyj's 9210 Communicator and LM Ericsson Telefon AB's R380 models have hit the high street."
"This has given chief rival Microsoft Corp the chance to fill the breach with its own PDA and smart phone offerings. And with the recent launch of Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, Microsoft's first real foray into Symbian's territory of truly converged phone/PDA operating systems, Symbian's advantage seems to have been all but eroded."
"I have no idea why there are no devices. I thought they were further along last year than they are now. [The decision of Symbian shareholders Motorola and Psion to cancel their jointly developed Odin device last year] took a huge amount of wind out of their sails," said Owen."
"He said he believes Symbian's best chance of re-establishing itself now rests with how quickly and successfully Symbian shareholder Nokia can bring compelling devices using the platform to market."
"It's Nokia versus Microsoft now and Symbian is the squash racquet," said Owen. [The other Symbian shareholders] will be looking to Nokia for prodcuts and services. If Nokia brings out a compelling product then Motorola and the rest may follow."
