Rumour: Symbian Foundation to be wound up? [Updated: Probably]

by Ben Smith on 19th October 2010

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File this firmly in the ‘unconfirmed’ tray, but a super-secret source contacted us a few days ago with news that the Symbian Foundation is to be wound up. The wheels are - apparently - already in motion and today’s news that CEO Lee Williams is leaving (immediately) for ‘personal reasons’ appears to chime with this.

This move – far from killing the Symbian OS itself – may actually go some way to improve things, freeing the platform from the ‘decision making by committee’ which many believe  (OK… well… I do) has hamstrung development of the platform. This would effectively hand control back to Nokia who ship 90% of the world’s Symbian handsets anyway.

A number of big-name manufacturers (Samsung and Sony Ericsson) have recently stopped developing Symbian-based products to put their focus on other platforms and the biggest of the remaining ones (primarily the Japanese market) could easily work directly with Nokia on future development.

The required meetings are still to happen (we hear), but any official news on this will probably be released at SEE 2010 starting on the 9th November.

Update: The Register is also now also claiming the Symbian Foundation is to be wound up:

This week, the Foundation had announced the sudden and immediate resignation of executive director Lee Williams for “personal reasons” and his replacement by CFO Tim Holbrow.

But a source close to Symbian has told The Reg that Holbrow has been appointed to wind down operations and that Foundation employees are being offered redundancy packages.

…Holbrow is a permanent replacement for Williams, indicating Symbian’s focus is now operations rather than technology or community development, by virtue of Holbrow’s financial background. … Symbian’s fiscal year starts in April, meaning Holbrow’s got six months to wrap things up. Otherwise, business spills over into the new financial year.

Lack of funding would seem to be the reason Holbrow must wind-down the Foundation.

Tagged as: rumour, Symbian Foundation

  • Anonymous

    So, if the Foundation fails, Nokia would “acquire” Symbian again, and develop it themselves, right?

    I, however, doubt the Symbian Foundation will dissolve. It is a non-profit organization, that although hasn’t produced anything revolutionary, did a decent job creating S^3. So that should be enough for it to remain afloat.

    The reasons for Lee’s departure do remain a mystery though. I didn’t like him anyway, I remember the day Symbian went open source, how annoyingly and unprofessionally Symbian behaved as a company.

    Hope S^4 comes with some surprises, and not just level up to Android Ice Cream or whatever the name will be

  • http://www.techgearx.com/symbian-ceo-lee-williams-steps-down/ Symbian CEO Lee Williams steps down |

    [...] Symbian Foundation will be calling it quits sometime soon, “super secret” sources tell The Really Mobile Project. That wouldn’t mean the end of Symbian necessarily — only that decisions regarding the [...]

  • http://mystreamtv.com/symbian-ceo-lee-williams-steps-down/ Symbian CEO Lee Williams steps down | MyStreamTv.Com

    [...] Symbian Foundation will be calling it quits sometime soon, “super secret” sources tell The Really Mobile Project. That wouldn’t mean the end of Symbian necessarily — only that decisions regarding the [...]

  • http://www.oulunews.com/symbian-saation-johtaja-eroaa Symbian-säätiön johtaja eroaa | Oulu News

    [...] The Really Mobile Project sai jo päiviä sitten salaisesta lähteestä tietoja, että Symbian-säätiö tulee kokemaan kovia. Sen tarkemmin lähde ei asiaa eritellyt. Pahimmillaan Lee Williamsin ero voidaan tulkita kapteenin pakona uppoavasta laivasta, sillä suurista matkapuhelinvalmistajista Samsung ja Sony Ericsson ovat jo ilmoittaneet lopettavansa Symbianin tukemisen. Optimistisemman arvion mukaan toiminnanjohtajan muutos voisi aukaista Symbianille uusia mahdollisuuksia. [...]

  • http://benjam.in Ben Smith

    I don’t think they’re ‘re-acquire’ it – they still own it. They’d just move governance back into Nokia from the Foundation. Remember the Foundation is just there to manage the open-sourced product. Nokia still own the IP.

  • http://twitter.com/zerolinesofcode Zero Lines of Code
  • http://benjam.in Ben Smith

    Interesting read. Thanks for the link!

  • http://topsy.com/thereallymobileproject.com/2010/10/rumour-symbian-foundation-to-be-wound-up/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2 Tweets that mention Rumour: Symbian Foundation to be wound up? | The Really Mobile Project — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ReallyMobile, Ben Smith, Mike Maney, Steve O'Hear, Edward Umana and others. Edward Umana said: My Tweet about @Symbian dying was based on http://thereallymobileproject.com/2010/10/rumour-symbian-foundation-to-be-wound-up/ [...]

  • http://twitter.com/MakaniGadzair Makani Gadzair

    Won’t be a surprise if that happens. I think it would be good for Nokia to take over Symbian completely, however, Symbian is the only alternative to Android today (actually there is WinMo 7 too come to think of it), but since manufacturers don’t seem to be that interested in Symbian anyway, perhaps it’s a mute point.

  • http://www.kicero.be/2010/10/20/symbian-foundation-topman-legt-functie-neer/ Symbian Foundation-topman legt functie neer » Clippy.be

    [...] Volgens de site The Really Mobile Project zijn de dagen van de Symbian Foundation geteld en is het vertrek van Williams hier de voorbode van. Dit zou het beheer over Symbian weer in handen van Nokia brengen, maar de site benadrukt dat het om geruchten gaat. [...]

  • http://www.klor.net/symbian-foundation-head-lee-williams-steps-down.html Symbian Foundation Head Lee Williams Steps Down « KLOR.net

    [...] picked up the Symbian Foundations Press Release.  He also posts about a rumor published by Ben Smith of The Really Mobile Project, that The Symbian Foundation maybe wrapped Up altogether.! Remember, this is a rumor at this time, [...]

  • http://www.intomobile.com/2010/10/21/nokia-cut-1800-jobs/ Nokia cuts 1800 jobs from people working on Symbian, Services

    [...] is going to exist in 2 to 3 years. With the recent departure of Lee Williams, plus what I and other people have been hearing on the grapevine, the platform is getting no support, both from external parties [...]

  • JamesVincent

    From my experience, killing Symbian off would be a blessing.

  • http://pinguinsmoveis.com/nenhuma-novidade-no-front/ Nenhuma novidade no front

    [...] E quebrando temporariamente uma promessa que fiz neste blog: o outro recado importante é que a Nokia dinamitou a estratégia Symbian como conhecemos para tentar desatolar o Symbian OS (e ainda pode fazer o papel de boazinha abrindo o flanco para atualização do sistema nos telefones); a questão é se vai ser necessário demolir a Symbian Foundation. [...]

  • http://tech-reviews.findtechnews.net/nokia-boosts-qt-commitment-changes-symbian-strategy/ Tech Reviews » Nokia boosts Qt commitment, changes Symbian strategy

    [...] director is stepping down for “personal reasons” and being replaced. This has led to speculation that the foundation might be preparing to close shop and hand control back over to [...]

  • http://twitter.com/robtoole Rob Toole

    They did have a great run but the industry passed them by. The sooner they shutter the better.

  • http://blog.lifeisbetteron.com/blog/2010/10/27/weekly-mobile-mash-up-22/ Weekly Mobile Mash-up #22 | Life is better On

    [...] both the The Register and The Really Mobile Project, report the same rumour: Symbian foundation is beginning to be wound up. The Really Mobile Project [...]

  • http://www.twitter.com/martyndavies martyndavies

    Looks like this is what’s happening. The code goes back to be Nokia’s responsibility, and the Symbian foundation becomes a radically cut-down organisation to do licensing and brand.

  • http://benjam.in Ben Smith

    I know mystic Meg ;-)

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