Elop Asks Operators To Support Symbian Fade-Out

Although the Symbian operating system has been sidelined by Nokia’s deal with Microsoft, mobile operators will continue to support it this year, while Windows Phone gets established, because they need a third mobile platform so desperately said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.

Towards the end of today’s finance and strategy event, he addressed possibly the biggest question facing Nokia. How can it go on getting revenues from Symbian, the operating system which was its flagship until today, when it is no longer the core of its future strategy?

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Nokia will not produce any Windows Phone devices until 2012, and until then must rely on Symbian, an operating system from which it is now merely “harvesting” revenues.

Elop was asked, why any mobile operator would go along with Symbian this year?  His answer was that they will support Symbian during its gradual wind-down, essentially to help fund the emergence of Windows Phone as a new ecosystem, because they want someone to break the iPhone-Android duopoly.

Elop claimed that  mobile operators he had spoken to had all promised to stick with Symbian for the duration. “Mobile operators have pledged their support for Symbian in the transition period,” said Elop. “You have to understand their need for a third ecosystem.”

Operators need a third ecosystem so badly, they will support Symbian even if it is not currently going anywayere, and is effectively “end-of-lifed”, he said, and they are doing this in order to finance the development of the new ecosystem which will emerge next year.

In doing so, these operators may be missing market opportunities as other operating systems are more popular, he conceded. “No one can over-ride the consumer,” he said.

However, he plans to rely on operator support for the fading Symbian system, because “the Symbian effort is a critical part of building that third ecosystem.”