14 DAY TRIAL // Another leading mobile phone maker has left the Symbian bandwagon, namely Samsung, which has just announced officially that its Symbian support service would be discontinued as of December 31st 2010.
The announcement comes from Samsung Mobile Innovator, and was destined to all Symbian developers working on apps for the company's devices.
According to the company, not only would it stop offering support for Symbian developers, but it also plans on removing all Symbian content from its servers.
Here's what the mobile phone maker announced:
"A message on behalf of Samsung Mobile Innovator
Dear Symbian developers, Samsung Mobile Innovator will discontinue its Symbian support service from December 31st 2010. Please refer to the following event schedule (all times in GMT)
- 01:00am, 10/29/2010: Symbian Lab.dev Closed - 01:00am, 12/30/2010: Symbian Forum Closed - 01:00am, 12/31/2010: Symbian Content Removed"
Those developers still having issues with their apps should try to find a solution at Samsung Mobile Innovator before December 10th, or they would have to look elsewhere after that.
“We recommend posting any new discussion board queries no later than the 10th of December 2010 to ensure your issue can be addressed prior to the Forum’s closure,” the aforementioned message continues.
“Please take this opportunity to download any required documentation before all content is removed. Registration and certification of Symbian applications for the Samsung Apps store will cease from 08:00am on the 31st of December 2010.”
According to Samsung Mobile Innovator, developers looking for alternative Symbian development forums should head over to Symbian.org, as they will find all the necessary resources there.
Samsung is the second largest mobile phone maker in the world, and among the handset vendors to announce lately that they plan on moving away from the Symbian platform.
In Samsung's case, the move does not come as a surprise, especially since the company launched its own mobile operating system in late 2009, namely bada.
However, even if Symbian is out of Samsung's plans, other mobile platforms are still included, such as Android, area in which the phone manufacturer is quite successful, and Windows Phone 7 (Samsung is a launch partner for the new OS from Microsoft).
Sony Ericsson is another maker which unveiled that Symbian is no longer included in its future roadmap.