Sony Ericsson gives vote of confidence to Symbian

NEWS Symbian licensee Sony Ericsson has hit back at claims that it and other handset makers could move away from the smart phone operating system venture, perceiving Nokia to be exerting too much control. Comments made to silicon.com earlier this week from David Nagel, CEO at PalmSource, a Symbian rival, painted a picture of uncertainty over Symbian's future if one stakeholder is seen to have significantly more sway than others. This summer US handset giant Motorola exited Symbian and its stake was acquired by fellow founders Nokia and Psion. PalmSource's Nagel isn't the first person to question whether Symbian is widely attractive to manufacturers if Nokia, in particular, is perceived to be pulling too many strings - but with PalmSource looking increasingly at smart phones he's arguably the most important. However, Sony Ericsson has pledged its smart phone future to Symbian. Peter Bodor, Sony Ericsson manager of corporate communications, said: "There are no plans in Sony Ericsson to leave Symbian. We are committed to [the Symbian OS] for smart phones." He also said that even with Nokia and Psion's increased shares, no single stakeholder owns more than a third of Symbian and that even if ownership changed further "there are [official] limits on what any majority ownership could do". Sony Ericsson's P800 smart phone has been positively received and is one of the first successes for Symbian and indeed the Swedish-Japanese joint venture, which reported its first quarterly profit yesterday. It will continue to use proprietary OS software for some of its other handsets but is expected to announce the P900 soon. Bodor would not be drawn on other high-end smart phone plans. The controversy over Symbian and Sony Ericsson, in particular, was heightened this week with reports emerging that Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei is confused about his company's OS strategy. A posting on one website even has Bill Gates questioning Idei's sanity because Sony has one OS for PDAs and another for Sony Ericsson smart phones. Sony is an equity holder in PalmSource and uses Palm OS on its popular Clié PDA handhelds. Microsoft, the third major contender in the smart phone market, doesn't currently have a space at the Sony mobile table - but it would also certainly welcome its Windows Mobile software being used on Sony devices. Sony Ericsson's Bodor said he cannot comment on Sony Corp strategy. Sony wasn't immediately available for comment.