Nokia buys Symbian, turns software over to Symbian Foundation

Nokia’s been in bed with Symbian for many, many years through the development of its S60 platform — the world’s most populous smartphone platform, dont’cha know — and they’re taking that relationship to its endgame today by announcing that they’ll be acquiring the remaining shares of Symbian that they don’t already own. Here’s where it gets interesting, though: rather than taking Symbian’s intellectual private for Nokia’s own benefit, the goods will be turned over to the Symbian Foundation, a nonprofit whose sole goal will be the advancement of the Symbian platform in its many flavors. Motorola and Sony Ericsson have signed up to contribute UIQ assets, while NTT DoCoMo (which uses Symbian-based wares in a number of its phones) will be donating code as well.

Full story: engadget.com