Nokia recently decided to yank the cord on their Symbian OS, without any of the fanfare or publicity usually associated with such decisions. In fact, if a conscientious user hadn’t sent in a glitch report, only to receive a reply stating that the OS was now in ‘maintenance mode,’ we might still be in the dark regarding the death of this once-dominating mobile presence.

Symbian it’s Around for Sometime!

Symbian had its beginnings long before Android and Apple were household names. Devices such as Palm’s EPOC, a classic 80′s status symbol, and Psion PDA devices of the late 90′s were Symbian’s place of origin. When Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola merged in 1998, creating a true behemoth of a mobile company, Symbian OS was powering approximately half of all cell phones in use.

This merger created a market share which is probably never going to be reached by another mobile company. Even with the insane popularity and universal appeal of Android devices, there’s still plenty of competition out there. Too much competition, experts believe, for any single company to even come close to the Symbian OS mark.

How the Mighty Have Fallen

How does such a monster take such a dive, virtually unnoticed? Look around – how many of your friends have Nokia phones? With the stellar exception of the PureView, which is still going strong with many devoted users, Nokia handsets have steadily declined in popularity, especially with the unrelenting onslaught of Android handsets and, of course, the Apple iPhone.

There was no big crash or scandal behind the demise of Symbian OS – just a long, slow, achingly steady swirl down the drain of popularity. Up until rather recently most people when thinking Nokia phones, automatically thought of the cheap-o flip model you get when you accidentally step on your ‘real’ handset and take an inexpensive gap-filler until you can get another smartphone at a reduced price. Not exactly the image of an industry giant, regardless of their status in the past.

If You Use a Symbian OS Phone

With the exception of a few odds and ends, the majority of those affected will be consumers who own a Nokia PureView or a new Windows Phone handset. The PureView is still extremely popular, and many users are worried about the fate of this phone too!

The bad news is pretty much what you’d expect – there will be no Symbian upgrades, no new versions, essentially nothing new. The OS is gone, pure and simple.

There is good news, however, in that the OS will still continue to function. However, any glitches, as that first whistle-blowing consumer discovered, will not be fixed. Apparently, any reports are going on file – somewhere – in the unlikely event that Symbian rises from the netherworld.

Conclusion

In short, your Symbian OS smartphone will continue to work just fine for the time being. If you run into a glitch, however, or begin to feel as though you’re left in the dust as your friends upgrade, you’ll eventually have to say goodbye. Come what may, Symbian has no plans to return anytime soon, leaving fans with no other option but to switch to Android, iOS, Blackberry or Nokia’s latest outsourced OS, Windows Phone 8!

Which one will you switch to?


Did you like this article? Please comment and share with your friends, family and colleagues too…..