Nokia, having invested a great sum of money in to buying out all the owners of Symbian to open source the once leading mobile operating system have quietly dropped Symbian on their high end devices.  It seems the Nokia strategy has failed to yield results, with profit margins and smart phone market share plummeting since 2007.

For the high margin smartphone market, Nokia instead are banking their future on the Intel backed Meego mobile operations system, another Linux variant like Android.  It seems like a match made in heaven – the world’s greatest chip manufacturer looking for a way in to the mobile market, and the worlds biggest mobile manufacturer looking for a way to stay in the mobile market.

It is unclear what they Nokia and Intel hope to achieve from this, as it would seem strategically valid to back the Android mobile operating system, already enjoying significant market share rising faster than the iPhone globally (and here) with reports of already surpassing the iPhone in US markets at 28% and 21% respectively.

However, Symbian still leads although is in decline in mobile phones worldwide, with Android now enjoying the number four spot and rising fast.

Where will Meego will fit in to crowded space, with Samsung also releasing Bada, HP buying out Palm to get hold of WebOS (reportedly very good but lacking market critical momentum) and probably more on the way?

I put odds on 3 to 1 that Nokia will capitulate on Meego within two years and also release an Android based phone.

PHP Freelancer