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Nokia Taking Over Psion to Control Symbian?

Posted by Cliff on from the operating-system-power-plays dept.

securitas writes: "Reuters reports that Nokia is considering a takeover of Psion (mirror at Forbes), to gain control of the Symbian operating system. Psion is the second largest shareholder in Symbian with a 31.1 percent stake. Nokia holds 32.2 percent. The move is seen as a tactic to fight off Microsoft and dominate the lucrative and growing mobile phone software market. Symbian is currently owned by Ericsson, Nokia, Panasonic, Psion, Samsung Electronics, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. The report originates in the London newspaper, Business. What does this mean for the Symbian OS, which is currently an open OS?"

7 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, Symbian by Old+Uncle+Bill · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thought that said Sybian. That would be an interesting integration...

    --
    Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
  2. Wow what a subject!! by Fyndlorn · · Score: 5, Funny

    First I thought it said 'Nokia to take over Prison control System' Which freaked me out. Then I thought it said 'Nokia to take Psionic Control of System' which freaked me out some more... phew

  3. Is the title from a SciFi novel? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Anyone else read the title, "Nokia Taking Over Psion to Control Symbian?", and wonder what science ficiton novel we were talking about?

    I assume Nokia is the bad governement, Psion is a planet (or some such), and Symbian is some resource/person/super_robot?

  4. Psion by Old+Wolf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is this the same Psion as in Psion Flight Simulator, Psion Chequered Flag, etc. ?

    If so, then maybe Nokia is onto something for its builtin games. I think I have my original cassettes somewhere..

  5. Was Nokia that lonely? by numbski · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have to admit, I never really pictured Nokia to be the lonely, under-stimulated type. So far as controlling Sybian, I've never seen one personally, but from what I've read Sybians have fairly simple, yet robust controls, I don't really think it would be neccessary to purchase Psion to get the desired results.

    Oh, and so far as 'remaining open', I think it would go completely against the design of Sybian to go closed. I mean you would lose most available functionality by closing up all of a sudden.
    </deadpan<

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

  6. Re:Hexadecimal please? by killerkalamari · · Score: 3, Funny
    The current ownership of Symbian breaks down in hexadecimal as follows (using the definition of 1% equals one part in one hundred hex): Nokia 52.7%, Psion 4F.A%, Ericsson 2C.D%, Samsung C.D%, Siemens C.5%, and Sony Ericsson 3.D%

    calamari

  7. Sy(m)bian jokes. by Ch_Omega · · Score: 3, Funny

    Seems that every time Symbian is mentioned on Slashdot, someone has to come up with the same old Sybian jokes.. We're NERDS goddammit! We should be thinking about handheld devices when someone mention Sybian, not the other way around! :)