Microsoft launched Mobile Windows 5.0, even though its presence in the mobile market is 1.0. Everyone overlooked the fact that the worldwide shipments of phones using the Symbian platform increased 180% – 6.75 million Symbian-based phones shipped in the quarter compared to 2.4 million phones the year before. By the end of the quarter, 48 Symbian-based phones were shipping from vendors such as Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, and Panasonic. Samsung and China’s Lenovo have signed up as well. Nokia is a big booster, but no surprise there. I just wonder why we pay so much attention to relative non-starters Palm and Microsoft. Is it because Symbian is a relative non-player in the US?
Treos look flashy and avant-garde, things that capture a fickle American media’s attention. A Nokia Series 60 phone looks like… a phone. A phone that can do more than most Motorolas, yes, but put a Nokia 6620 or 6682 next to a RAZR. Which one looks cooler?
Nokia could serve up a Symbian-based Treo killer any time they want. So why don’t they? Samsung’s giving it a shot with the i730, after all…
As a European I would say that the SE P910 is a better smartphone than the Treo600/650.
As for cool looks you guys seen the latest 3G handsets from Sony Ericsson?
The release of Windows Mobile 5.0 is interesting but the devices are a long way off and so cannot be commented on just yet.
Symbian will gain an ever increasing share of the handset world and what is capable withsuch a phone will become ever more interesting. The difference is that the OS allows for much more than just PIM based services and as such will appeal to the user who wishes to customise.