Symbian goes open source four months early

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Under Eclipse, users of code are not required to share back contributions built on top of the code, although Symbian recommends that users do that, Berkin said.

It will now remain to be seen if an expanded base of handset makers commit to Symbian, which for many years has been perceived as largely a product of Nokia's. Berkin hopes that some phone makers may be using Android to essentially bide their time until Symbian is out.

Motorola has seriously committed to Android but has been a Symbian user historically. “To the extent that they are financially able, I expect them to come back,” Berkin said.

Motorola sounds not so committed, however. “We encourage the use of open source in the industry and have been a longtime proponent of open platforms, but we have not announced plans to deploy the Symbian platform you reference,” said Motorola spokeswoman Becki Leonard when asked if the company plans to make phones based on the Symbian open-source OS.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.