Nokia will be dropping the struggling Symbian name from its native operating system for the upcoming update. Once to be known as Symbian Belle, the OS will now simply be known as Nokia Belle when it rolls out in February.
Finnish mobile co. Nokia were unsurprisingly tight lipped about the name change and the title alteration was only touched upon briefly in a statement which reads: “The all new Nokia Belle (previously Symbian Belle) user interface will soon be available for download to some existing smartphones and begin shipping with a selection of smartphones that are already on the market.” – Those ‘existing smartphones’ included are: Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7, Nokia E6, Nokia E7, Nokia N8 and Nokia X7.
No reason given for the last minute switch, but it’s understood that in the heavyweight battle between mobile OS leaders iOS (Apple) and Android (Google) – Nokia’s own Symbian software just didn’t match up. An early indication that Nokia had dwindling faith in its own platform was the eager partnering with Microsoft to be the first manufacturer to provide host devices for the Windows Phone update Mango (7.5). Check out the pairing’s first offering in our video review for the Lumia 800.
Nokia Belle update follows Symbian Anna and will become available in February 2012 – The Gadget Helpline will cover the launch and our Nokia-owning readers know how they can get theirs!
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