Kudos to the people at Symbian for better communications with the media than ever during this year's Show. Included in the press pack was a bound book with some very clear illustrations of just how far Symbian has come. Read on for links and comment.
Read on in the full article.
Steve,
you argue that the Linux shares should not be classed as "true" smartphones, and therefore taken out, because they are mainly closed devices.
To my knowledge, this would also hold true for nearly all Symbian phones in Japan, at least those using NTT DoCoMo's FOMA / MOAP platform, because it is also not open for C++ application development. Not sure about Java, but if you count that, all Nokia S40 phones would also have to be reclassed as Smartphones. 😉
The only exception are the Softbank (formerly Vodafone KK) variants of some phones (e.g. 6630, N73), but even these are somewhat restricted in not allowing the installation of unsigned applications and Developer Certificates, and in my understanding are relatively "niche" for frequent travellers to GSM-land.
So I think the peculiarities of the Japanese market probably require a special mention here, if just for the sheer size.
ciao marcus
Ah. So you can't install signed 3rd party C++ apps? Really?
I told you I didn't know much about the Japanese scene!!
Steve
The Japan-only S60 devices, as mentioned, forces Symbian signing (self-signing not enough).
And, indeed, as far as I know, all of the NTT DoCoMo Symbian based FOMA/MOAP phones only allow DoCoMo specific "iAppli" Java apps (no C++, no Python, no Perl, no AppForge, no OPL, not even full J2ME).
Pah! So not actually much to report on then 8-) What's the point in a 'smartphone' if you can't do smart things with it, such as extend it with software to suit your use? A smartphone that's non-extendable is just a 'feature phone', surely?
Steve