Nokia Shifts To Open Source

Just a day after announcing its acquisition of location-based social network Plazes, Nokia has another new property under its belt.

The mobile maker has bought out cell phone software developer Symbian — a company of which it already had a 48 percent ownership. With Symbian fully in its control, Nokia has opted to switch its operating system over to open source. Symbian’s OS is currently used on a variety of phones, including Nokia’s S60. Nokia estimates about seven percent of all cell phones sold last year had the Symbian system in place.

The shift seems to be a clear sign of competition for Google’s upcoming Android open source platform, with Nokia’s CEO going as far as saying he wants to create “the most attractive platform for mobile innovation and drive the development of new and compelling web-enabled applications.” With word just yesterday that Android could be facing delays, the heat is definitely on — and this could be anyone’s game.

Google, for the record, insists everything is on-track with Android, despite strong reports indicating otherwise.

(Image via Wikipedia)