Sony Ericsson dumps Symbian in favour of Android

by Steven Mostyn - Sep 27 2010, 11:38

Handset giant Sony Ericsson has this week revealed that it is to end its long-standing software allegiance with Symbian, switching over to Google's increasingly popular open-source Android platform. 

“We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system,” confirmed a Sony Ericsson representative in a Bloomberg report.

Despite the ever-increasing popularity of Android, the Symbian operating system remains the market's leading mobile software – mainly because it is carried by Nokia, which just so happens to be the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer.

However, it is worth noting that Symbian's market dominance is on the decline, with its share plummeting from 51 percent in the second quarter of 2009 to 41.2 percent during the same period in 2010 (Gartner).

Meanwhile, Android has established itself as the market's fastest growing mobile operating system as a steady procession of handset makers move to embrace Google's open-source software.

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