Ari Jaaksi: Symbian Religion. Biggest concern on Maemo was not how good it was, but how it would affect Symbian.

Head of webOS at HP and Ex Nokian/MeeGo chief, Ari Jaaksi had an interview with

hs.fi. It’s in Finnish so there may be some things lost in translation.

http://www.hs.fi/talous/artikkeli/Nokiasta+l%C3%A4htenyt+Meego-pomo+Symbianista+tuli+uskonto/1135268704587

He reveals some issues that has been concerning us about Nokia for some time.

Ari says he left Nokia and MeeGo control because he felt it was impossible to do his job. Symbian was like a religion. Instead of what was possibly best for customers, for Nokia, the priority was, as hs.fi put it, the clumsy Symbian OS.

“The biggest concern was how the telephone affects Symbian, nor how good the phone is or is received it is sold”

This again confirms the competition between Nokia teams, encouraged by Ollila.  But because Symbian was apparently seen as a religion, Maemo now MeeGo was never given a fair chance. Nokia relied too much on Symbian and did not give the MeeGo the attention it needed to succeed.

It was not about getting Maemo – in particular the brilliant Maemo 5 out to the public to see how well Nokia can really do, the concern was how this great thing could harm, Symbian (Man, S60 5th compared to Maemo 5? What a load of dog-poo S60 5th was. 2009 folks. Maemo 5 was already brilliant in 2009).

With attention on fixing Symbian and poor support for MeeGo, the MeeGo, devices thus delayed and we’re in the position now of a realigned future with Microsoft. Symbian^3 was the slowest quick-fix ever.

Here’s another interesting read. Will Nokia Ever Realize Open Source Is Not a Panacea (via@joaoluisc). This account shows the headless chicken nature at Nokia.

Wow….on top of the world with Symbian, but in dire need to improve on the face of new competition. Nokia buys Symbian, give it away, do this thing called Symbian Foundation to try and make it open source, make it difficult for other partners to succeed with Symbian, scare off Sony Ericsson and Samsung, be forced to take back Symbian, and make it closed source and then announcing that some other company will be taking care of development.

Cheers to Joni and quite aptly, outdated os for the tip.

Source: http://www.hs.fi, nokiagadgets

update: Forgot to add:

During the Nokia World 2010 party, one Nokia staff was discussing how MeeGo was held back for Symbian^3, hence no MeeGo device announced. It was to let Symbian^3 shine. Focus had to be on the newer Symbian. No time to sort out MeeGo. That was pretty much just one Nokia voice but Ari here confirms that situation.

Category: MeeGo, Nokia, Symbian, Windows Phone