Nokia And Symbian Tie The Knot

Ohhhh! It's on!

Nokia announced today that they will be buying up the remaining 52% stock of handheld OS maker Symbian for $410 million. Although many other handset makers have a small stock claim on Symbian, it appears they are lining up to support Nokia's purchase. Prior to this move, Nokia owned a commanding 48% of Symbian's stock, so it does seem to be a natural transition, at least from an ownership perspective.

What's really interesting is Nokia's plan for Symbian:

Nokia and a number of other electronics makers are forming the Symbian Foundation to drive the development of Web applications for use by consumers on cell phones. The foundation plans to provide a unified platform that has a common user interface framework and that will be available for all foundation members under a royalty-free license,

Nokia is now aiming to be the "most widely used software platform on the planet," with particular focus on the mobile web environment. Which is an interesting move, and could throw a wrench in the battle of new wave mobile OS's, especially given the smack talk between Google and Symbian a few months back.

Do you think Nokia has a chance to compete in the iPhone/Android market? Or are they going to offer something different than either of them?

Nokia to buy Symbian outright, launches app effort [CNET]
Symbian Foundation