So far, 59 companies have said they plan to join the Symbian Foundation, including Japan's third-largest wireless carrier, Softbank.Īndroid also competes with Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, which has been gaining ground in recent months., the Japanese consumer electronics giant, and the two created a joint venture called Members of the Symbian Foundation have royalty-free access to the Symbian platform. Nokia contributes Symbian's assets to a not-for-profit organisation similar to the Open Handset Alliance, the Symbian Foundation. Android's biggest competitor is Symbian, which controls half of the market and was acquired by Nokia earlier this year. The addition of new members to the Open Handset Alliance gives Google-developed Android more heft in the battle over who will dominate the mobile phone software market in coming years.
Google's Android is open to being changed by outside developers.
These companies join earlier members of the Alliance, such as the world's biggest chip maker Intel and mobile phone makers Motorola and Samsung.īoth Google and Apple have wooed developers to create applications for their mobile devices, but Apple keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and operating software. "Android is set to become a significant application framework for mobile phones," Sony Ericsson's head of mobile platforms, Robert Puskaric, said in a statement.Īsus, Toshiba and sat nav maker Garmin also pledged their support, bringing the total number of companies in the Open Handset Alliance to 47, the Alliance said.
The company said it plans to introduce an Android phone in mid-2009. The first company within the new group set to introduce an Android-based mobile device is Sony Ericsson. "It's great to get these folks on board.now (the Open Handset Alliance) has to make sure these licenses actually ship products," said research firm Jupiter Media's vice president of mobile strategy, Michael Gartenberg. But despite the big-name additions to the Open Handset Alliance, analysts say what matters is whether the new members introduce more Android-supported smartphones in 20 to edge out competitors who also use open-source software platforms for mobile phones, such as the Nokia-owned Symbian smartphone platform.
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