For its updates, Nokia will no longer refer to Symbian 3 -- which is used on, for example, the N8 -- or the planned update Symbian 4, according to the company. Instead, much of the work that has been done to improve the user interface on what was version 4 will arrive sooner to existing products, new CEO Stephen Elop said during a conference call, but didn't elaborate on a more detailed schedule.
Symbian 3 is an improvement over previous versions of the much-maligned OS, but it still can't compete with the usability offered by Apple's iPhone iOS and Android-based smartphones.
The change is possible thanks to Nokia's decision to now solely focus on the Qt development platform, which is used to build user interfaces and applications, for both internal and external development. This will also be a boon for developers, according to Nokia.
