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Nokia evidently still has some love for its Symbian operating system as it will soon be shipping four of its newest phones with the latest version — Anna — and will be launching 10 Symbian-based handsets within the next 12 months.
From July, Nokia’s N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 handsets will begin shipping with the new version of Symbian pre-installed and current owners of these devices will be able to download the update towards the end of August.
Nokia is also planning to launch 10 new phones in the next year, all of which will be running Symbian. Nokia wasn’t specific about what kind of phones these are going to be, so naturally we’re assuming they’re going to be implantable neural chips so we don’t have to carry phones in our pocket anymore.
The Symbian Anna update brings a more friendly user interface as well as browser and map updates. We’re all very excited.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to figure out exactly what Nokia is up to at the moment. In February we were treated to the news that it will be rolling out the Windows Phone operating system on its devices. Today, Nokia says it’s simultaneously updating its existing Symbian OS and launching the first (perhaps only) handset to run its MeeGo OS, the N9. Confused? So are we.
It’s an awkward transitional phase for the company as it tries to make the most of Symbian, which it owns but is no longer developing. Broadly, Nokia sees Symbian phones as being for developing markets, and as richer countries want touchscreen smart phones, it will give us Windows Phones. It’ll need to make sure the man on the street knows the difference, and that’s not completely clear today.
