The Symbian Foundation finally declared Symbian Open Source

On February 4, 2010, The Symbian Foundation opened up its source code for all developers. This move will allow developers to enrich the OS. The OS now can be loaded for free on any compatible device. News reports said that the new Symbian 3 would replace Series 40 which is not correct. Nokia Corp. still controls Series 40 and it is not part of the code released by the Symbian Foundation.

ZD Net reports:

The entire Symbian 3 platform, including the kernel, apps and other middleware, will be made available under the Eclipse Public License, as well as other open source licenses. This release comes some four months ahead of schedule.

Previously only the kernel itself was available.

Symbian is currently the most popular OS in the world for mobile phones and other portable devices. It accounts for 45% of the total smartphones sold around the world. Major corporations including Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Fujitsu and Sharp have their own Symbian devices. In 2008, the Symbian Foundation announced to make Symbian open source. Previously, it was available to only the members of the foundation.

According to IDC analyst John Delaney, by opening up its source code, Symbian would be able to lure developers away from Android and Apple App Store. Symbian’s large user base means that developers can earn more money. Though Google Android does not command a large user base, it observed steady growth over the years. Google Android is projected to become the second-most popular mobile operating system after Symbian by the end of 2012.

The code is now available on the Symbian Developer wiki. You can also find it on Symbian website.