Nokia operator deals push Symbian phones

Nokia appears to be trying to work increasingly close with operators as a way to push its S60 mobile phone software. The strategy could result in more Symbian phones available to U.S. users.

Last year at the 3GSM World Congress, Vodafone Group announced that it would build a software package that could be adopted by S60 licensees that would make it easier for Vodafone to introduce new services on a wide range of phones without having to customize the software for each handset. On Tuesday, Vodafone released the software package and Nokia and Samsung Electronics said they plan to use it in new devices this year. Vodafone says the software will help it speed up the delivery of new services to users.

S60 is user interface software created by Nokia for the Symbian operating system. It is primarily used by Nokia but LG Electronics and Samsung also license S60. Symbian competes with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Research In Motion’s operating system.

Nokia may be near a similar deal to the Vodafone collaboration in the U.S., where the world’s largest mobile phone maker has continued to struggle for a foothold. Symbian is the most popular smartphone operating system in the world but has a very small user base in the U.S.

“We are in active dialog with Cingular,” said Matti Vanska, vice president of mobile software sales and marketing for Nokia. An agreement with Cingular, now called AT&T, that is similar to the collaborations Nokia has made with European operators could result in more Symbian devices on the U.S. market.

Nokia is also working to try to encourage U.S. developers to work on products for Symbian phones, which could also spur more demand for the handsets in North America. “There are a lot of interesting developers in North America,” said Lee Epting, vice president of Forum Nokia, the developer community for S60 and other Nokia software. “They tend to look just at North America even if the global prospects are better.” Nokia is trying to encourage those developers to notice the large market for Symbian devices in Asia-Pacific, China and Europe, she said.

Other operators have also begun collaborations with Nokia on S60. On Monday, Nokia said that it will work closely with Telecom Italia Mobile’s internal application development team and address its requirements for S60. Nokia also announced last week that it would collaborate with T-Mobile International to improve the ability of S60 licensees to develop phones for T-Mobile.