Nokia and Symbian have issued a statement that emphasises Nokia's commitment to Symbian – but will see the non-profit Symbian Foundation shrinking to just handing software licensing and other intellectual property responsibilities. Nokia will "make the future development of the Symbian platform available to the ecosystem via an alternative direct and open model."
Tim Holbrow, the recently-appointed executive director of the Symbian Foundation, said "There has been a seismic change in the mobile market but also more generally in the economy, which has led to a change in focus for some of our funding board members. The result of this is that the current governance structure for the Symbian platform – the foundation - is no longer appropriate. However, the platform enjoys strong support from some of the largest and most innovative device creators in the world. And we continue to see solid momentum behind the platform, with 25 percent of all Symbian-based devices shipping in the last 12 months."
The move is expected to be completed by April 2011. The Symbian Foundation leadership team says it'll work with Nokia to ensure the reduction in operations of the foundation will bring as little disruption as possible. Further details of this process will be released at a later date. It puts a slightly different perspective on the Symbian Exchange & Exposition (SEE 2010), which starts tomorrow in Amsterdam.