There's more from Symbian Foundation's David Wood here, talking about the steps needed to get to a working SF phone, including a couple of the clearest 'picture speaks 1000 words' diagrams I've seen in a long time.
Read on in the full article.
Building a phone
Just to respond to what some people said in previous threads, this diagram:
http://symbianfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/slide22.jpg?w=450&h=337
...shows exactly why the Symbian Foundation cannot be responsible for firmware updates.
Even if the Foundation issued a new OS version every day, they have got absolutely nothing to do with manufacturer-specific software or vendor/network-specific software. Without those components, there's no way that they can issue firmware.
It's the same reason that the people in charge of the Linux kernel or Debian GNU Linux can't issue a new version of Ubuntu or Maemo, because Ubuntu and Maemo contain additional stuff on top of Linux and Debian.
Actually, with differential updates it would be technically possible to upgrade several parts of the OS with newer versions of Foundation components. And indeed you can upgrade your Linux kernel independently of the rest of your Linux distribution quite happily (compatibility issues surrounding major version changes aside).
The real point is that most of the whizzy new features that people would want to upgrade to a new feature pack for are actually likely to be in the UI layer. Even with a common UI platform (S60) there is likely to be a lot of customisation and differentiation at this layer that isn't owned by the Foundation and hence can't be provided as an update.
Personally I think this is all a waste of effort, since the upgrades being offered by almost all of the other major smartphone vendors will force adopters of the Symbian Foundation platform to follow suit or be left behind. They just won't announce anything yet because it probably won't apply to all of the phones being sold now and they don't want to hit current sales because people are waiting for the "upgradeable" version.
Actually, with differential updates it would be technically possible to upgrade several parts of the OS with newer versions of Foundation components.
Well, the point I'm trying to make is that it's not within the Foundation's ability to offer OS updates directly to consumers.
If an average consumer wants updates to the OS they have to go through the manufacturer (and possibly network operator too).
I'm sure there will be some way to hack it, and there was some talk about booting from another OS altogether through memory cards (which is already possible on Nokia's internet tablets) but none of these are really viable alternatives for ordinary users.
They just won't announce anything yet because it probably won't apply to all of the phones being sold now and they don't want to hit current sales because people are waiting for the "upgradeable" version.
I can't see OS version updates having any effect on sales, because only a tiny percentage of current S60 users have any awareness of their OS name or version.
A typical S60 device and its consumer documentation has absolutely no mention of the word "Symbian", let alone its version, and S60 isn't really mentioned either. As is often repeated on here, the vast majority of Symbian users probably don't know they're Symbian users. 😊
Firmware updates are becoming more popular, but as you pointed out you don't need to update the OS version in order to substantially improve what the end user sees, because so much of the firmware is to do with the bundled applications and user interface.
Of course public perception can be very different... a lot of people might see firmware updates and OS updates as the same thing. A lot of people talk about the interface, the underlying OS and the bundled apps together as "the OS", and firmware updates on S60 are often referred to as OS updates even though the OS hasn't been updated! 😊
One thing that would certainly help Symbian's status as an OS is to be mentioned on the startup screen along with a version number. But manufacturers don't seem to want to do that...