Nokia will (finally?) bring to rest Symbian smartphone shipments by summer 2013 the Financial Times reports, killing off the homegrown mobile OS in favour of Windows Phone.
In a true "how the mighty fall" story, Symbian fell from smartphone leader grace to "burning platform," as described by no other than Nokia CEO Stephen Elop back in February 2011.
Current Symbian smartphone totals are all but negligible-- according to Kantar Worldpanel European Symbian mobile market share for the 3 months to April 2013 amounts to 1.8%, even if it also accounts to around 2% of the vast Chinese market.
Meanwhile Q1 2013 Symbian device sales reach 500000 units, far less than Lumia Windows Phone-based smartphone sales of around 5.6 million.
The last Symbian device launched is the 808 Pureview, a 2012 smartphone with an admittedly impressive 41MP camera grafted on some less note worthy software.
“It took 22 months to get a Symbian phone out of the door. With Windows Phone, it is less than a year," Nokia says. "We spend less time having to tinker with deep-lying code and more time on crafting elements of the experience that make a big difference, such as around photography, maps, music and apps in general."
The FT does not expect Nokia to announce it will stop shipments just yet-- the company still has Symbian inventory to sell, while the OS will find a home in cheaper Nokia feature phones aimed at emerging markets.