The group behind the world’s most popular smartphone operating system - Symbian - is giving away “billions of dollars” worth of code for free.

The Symbian Foundation’s announced that it would make its code open source in 2008 and has now completed the move.

It means that any organisation or individual can now use and modify the platform’s underlying source code “for any purpose”.

Symbian has shipped in more than 330m mobile phones, the foundation says.

Although some ten years old, Symbian is installed on more than 330 million phones globally, making it the largest smartphone platform currently in existence. However, the success of Google’s open source Android has been diverting the limelight of late, as has the rise of Apple’s iPhone OS.

From today developers will be able to download source code and experiment with it, ending years of lengthy contract negotiations before apps could begin to take shape.

This should mean an easier life for developers, encouraging faster and more exciting app development.

Read more visit : http://www.symbian.org/

: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8496263.stm

Last Modified : February 5th, 2010 Filed under : Mobile Applications, Mobile application developments, New Tech, Symbian Navigate : Previous post / Next post