Symbian Foundation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Company type | non-profit organisation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Open mobile software platform |
| Predecessor | Symbian Ltd |
| Founded | 24 June 2008 |
| Founder | Nokia Sony Ericsson NTT DoCoMo Motorola Texas Instruments Vodafone LG Electronics Samsung Electronics STMicroelectronics AT&T |
| Defunct | April 2011 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | The Symbian platform |
| Website | symbian.org |
The Symbian Foundation was a non-profit organisation that stewarded the Symbian operating system for mobile phones which previously had been owned and licensed by Symbian Ltd. Symbian Foundation never directly developed the platform, but evangelised, co-ordinated and ensured compatibility. It also provided key services to its members and the community such as collecting, building and distributing Symbian source code. During its time it competed against the Open Handset Alliance and the LiMo Foundation.
Members
The Foundation was founded by Nokia, Sony Ericsson, NTT DoCoMo, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Vodafone, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics and AT&T.[1] Due to a change in their device strategy, LG and Motorola left the Foundation board soon after its creation. They were later replaced by Fujitsu[2] and Qualcomm Innovation Center.[3]
During its operational phase (from 2009 to 2010), it also provided:
- platform development kits and tools
- documentation and example code
- discussion forums and mailing lists
- application signing (Symbian Signed)[4]
- application distribution (Symbian Horizon)[5]
- idea gathering and feedback (Symbian Ideas)[6]
- an annual conference (Symbian Exchange and Exposition, abbreviated "SEE")
The Symbian Foundation invited companies to join as members, and attracted over 200, from a large number of categories:[7]
- Device manufacturers (e.g. Nokia, Fujitsu)
- Financial services companies (e.g. Visa)
- Semiconductor vendors (e.g. ARM, Broadcom)
- Mobile network operators (e.g. China Mobile, Vodafone, AT&T)
- Software companies
- Professional services firms