Finnish handset maker, Nokia will support Symbian based devices till 2016, two years more than its previous deadline.
Chief executive officer of Nokia, Stephen Elop said in an official blog, “Even as we go through a transition towards our primary smartphone platform, Windows Phone, you will see that continued investment, software updates to Symbian devices are expected until at least 2016.”
Earlier, the handset maker had said that it will provide support to Symbian devices till 2014 but won’t manufacture such phones after 2012.
Nokia has opted the Windows Phone 7 of Microsoft as the operating system of its future smartphone. It will be releasing close to 11-12 smartphones by the end of 2012.
Under the Nokia plan, the apps and customer service will continue to support the Symbian platform.
However, Symbian users will find it difficult to get access to a thriving App environment comprising third party apps as developers would rather like to create apps for those platforms which will be out there in the market longer.
Symbian is still pretty strong in Middle East, Africa and Asia, and Nokia would definitely not like to lose the existing customers.