Sony Ericsson Drops Symbian

Top 20 Android Productivity Apps

In the latest sea change in mobile phone operating systems, Sony Ericsson said it will likely drop Symbian from its list of operating systems in future phone designs, although it plans to continue to support the platform, which is still the world's leading smartphone platform.

The company -- a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson -- has been focusing most of its new platform work on Google's Android platform. The company has some phones that operate on Windows Mobile platform. Microsoft is scheduled to unveil new Windows Phone 7 devices next month.

"We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system," Sony Ericsson spokesperson Aldo Liguori told the Bloomberg news service, and added that Symbian will continue to be "an important platform" for Sony Ericsson.

Nokia established the Symbian Foundation to share Symbian source code and in recent months has teamed up with Intel to create a more robust open source operating system called Meego aimed at high-end smartphone designs. Symbian has remained the world's leading mobile operating system and is used in billions of phones and accounts for most of Nokia's nearly 40% cell phone market share.

Sony Ericsson utilizes Symbian in its Vivaz phones and there are indications that that family will have more models in the future.

The world's mobile phone platforms are undergoing rapid market share shifts as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platforms are rapidly powering to the vanguard of the smartphone universe.

The major question now centers on Nokia and whether its new CEO, ex-Microsoft executive Stephen Elop, will team up in a small or big way with Microsoft in cell phones.

SEE ALSO: Sony Ericsson Intros Walkman Phones Sony Ericsson Intros WinMo Smartphone Sony Ericsson Posts Profitable Quarter