Nokia is betting heavily on a revamped Symbian UI to provide the necessary momentum to beat Apple and Android. I have been a fan of Symbian, but my major concern is a streamlined development process as well. Cleaning up the UI will ultimately make code easier to complete.My primary question is one of future needs. If the phone in my pocket becomes my personal computer can Symbian compete? In a world of cloud computing, and perhaps resource sharing, perhaps yes. Can it provide the horsepower necessary to become say equivalent to an XBox? I’m not sold. The thing in your pocket is going to become incredibly powerful in the future. It will require multiple data connections to facilitate sensors and personal area networking. It will need to become both a router and a personal computer.
As noted, the UI is currently the greatest bottle neck. This will continue because we haven’t hit the point where new methodologies are required to facilitate thought in motion. But, consider speech recognition. Consider gestural interaction. Consider image recognition. Much of the power will have to reside locally. My push for a mobile OS X, and the appeal of mobile Linux, is based on the idea that these operating systems can scale. Between Maemo and Symbian, I bet on Maemo. Maturity is the issue, but maturation is the base requirement.
