Will Google and Symbian ever work hand-in-hand?

By Jacqueline Emigh | Published July 21, 2008, 10:15 AM

Is there any real chance now that Symbian and Google will start working more closely together, given the planned development of a new Symbian software platform that will compete with Google's Android?

Although Symbian now uses Google applications on its existing mobile OS, any future collaboration at the platform level will need to be addressed by the Nokia-led Symbian Foundation, say Symbian officials.

"Symbian currently collaborates with Google as an ISV, as Google develops popular applications for Symbian OS, such as Google Maps,YouTube and Gmail," said a Symbian spokesperson, in an e-mail to BetaNews.

"Symbian is not currently cooperating with Google at the operating systemlevel. The Symbian Foundation will be responsible for determining the future development of the platform when it begins operations, expected during [the first half of] 2009," according to the spokesperson.

As previously reported in BetaNews, major Symbian shareholder Nokia unexpectedly announced in June that it wants to buy all of the remaining shares in Symbian. Subject to regulatory approval, Nokia's plan also calls for turning the shares over to the Symbian Foundation, which will then produce a platform combining the three platforms now used on Nokia phones -- UIQ, a platform based on the Symbian OS. NTT DoCoMo's MOAP, and Nokia's own S60 -- into a common framework. Other founding members of the Symbian Foundation include NTT, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola.

In previous months, Nokia had allowed speculation to mount that it might join the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a sister organization to the Google-spearheaded Android Project, which is developing an alternative open source operating system.

Meanwhile, though, Nokia CEO CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo had been publicly characterizing Google -- along with Apple and Microsoft -- as "forces to be reckoned with" in Nokia's new quest to move in a more Internet-oriented direction.

Symbian sent its statement to BetaNews in response to a request for more information about remarks made by Symbian CEO Nigel Rutherford at a press conference in Tokyo this week.

Based on Rutherford's appearance at the news conference, reports in some other publications last week week suggested that broader collaboration between Symbian and Google is now a possibility, at either the application or OS level.

Actually, the spokesperson's statement to BetaNews didn't seem to rule out that prospect entirely -- although if that ever happens, it will probably be on Nokia's terms. "The Symbian Foundation will welcome any organization who wishes to join and contribute towards the development of the Symbian Foundation platform. On that basis, Google will be welcome to join the Foundation, as with any organization that agrees to the Foundation's terms and conditions of membership," the spokesperson told BetaNews.