Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford used this morning's opening keynote address at the Symbian Smartphone show in London to call on developers from across the computing and software world to focus on the new Symbian Foundation platform. "The eco-system is now bigger than Symbian," Clifford said.

He described the Symbian Foundation as being aimed at attracting developers who had previously been put off from developing for the mobile industry due to complex terms and conditions and licensing issues. "We used to live in an 'either / or' world. Either free code but a small mobile footprint or pedigree, or proven software at a cost. The Symbian Foundation combines both and doesn't require a trade-off for developers." Although the platform is not expected to be up and running until the first half of 2009, Clifford said that "the DNA for the foundation code" is already in place and running on new handsets. Symbian's main shareholder Nokia is currently in the process of buying out the other shareholders in the company to create the Symbian Foundation, which is set to compete with other open-source mobile platforms such as Google's Android. 

Commenting on the ten-year anniversary of Symbian's inception, Clifford said that the number of Symbian smartphones shipped surpassed the 200 million mark earlier this year and is on track to reach 250 million by year-end. He said Symbian is used in over 250 different handsets; the most recent - the Samsung I7110 - was unveiled yesterday and will be available in selected markets next month. Among the new announcements by Symbian and its key partners at the show were the Symbian Analysis Workbench (SAW), a visual analysis tool aimed at making it easier for Symbian developers to fix defects and optimise code, and ARM Profiler for Symbian OS, which claims to deliver high performance and reduced power consumption for Symbian-based devices. ARM and Huawei have also joined the Foundation, taking total global membership to 52 companies.

The consumer broadband Internet market could be set to follow the same trends as the voice market when it comes to fixed-mobile substitution – if operators can improve on connection speeds for mobile broadband services. 

In a new report published on Tuesday, telecoms consultancy Analysys Mason says that 47% of all broadband subscribers in Europe will access the Internet through mobile networks by 2013.

The report also predicts that in five years' time, nearly a quarter of all broadband-equipped households could be using mobile networks only, foregoing a fixed connection altogether.

"Take-up of broadband via mobile USB modems has surprised many in the fixed broadband space – and, indeed, the mobile business – and the early indications are that consumers in Europe are using mobile broadband as a substitute for fixed," said a statement from Analysys Mason.

Indeed, the GSM Association announced in August that global HSPA mobile broadband subscriptions had hit 50 million, rising from 11 million a year earlier.

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In the recent organised event (by mashup*) about the future of mobile phones, the conclusion was that simplicity of these smartphones in particular is key.

There was much discussion, and many points put forward and received - but it’s a fascinating conclusion, given where the mobile devices/services ecosystem has been going recently. Of course, simplicity may not necessarily mean the dumbing-down of the diverse range of apps, devices, and services - it may just mean that people want access to potentially complex offerings, but in an intuitive and clear way.

If you want to read more  about the thoughts of the group, then got to the  the mashup* site, here.

During the Broadband World Forum Europe 08, we noticed at the Thomson stand an interesting and somewhat weird product; the DECT Symbio. This is a Cordless DECT phone and Internet radio. An innovative new product that combines Internet radio with VoIP telephony.

We see this product as an interesting attempt to combine two products in one, with a very special 'phone' design.
Anticipating the future CAT-iq products, this is a good attempt by Thomson, to do something else

See the video

or download the brochure.