Clifford says Symbian will conquer US

IN A state of the nation speech to the faithful at the Symbian Smartphone show, Nigel Clifford - Symbian CEO - claimed Symbian would crack the one market where it isn't dominant - the USA.

As an example of how the North American market is finally opening up to Symbian, Clifford pointed to a deal which it has just struck with leading US operator, Cingular Wireless.

In an effort to pave the way for new US oriented apps running on Symbian OS version 9, Cingular Deluxe and Corporate Deluxe developers have been offered complimentary Symbian Affiliate status.

Clifford also displayed market statistics compiled by Canalys that show its share of the global OS smartphone market is currently about 67 per cent.

But in North America its market share is tiny compared to RIM (Blackberry); Microsoft and - would you believe it - Palmsource.

Considering Palmsouce's share looks set to spiral into terminal decline, it won't be that difficult for Symbian to pick up some of the slack.

Clifford also indicated that Symbian he wasn't that bothered even if Symbian didn't become the dominant player in North America. There are already twice as many Symbian handsets sold in China as in North America.

So Ya boo sucks. µ

L'INQ Canalys