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Symbian goes business with anti-Trojan next-gen OS
All things to all men?

By Jo Best and Graeme Wearden

Published: Wednesday 02 February 2005

Symbian has launched the latest version of its smart phone operating system, promising stronger security, more customisation and enhancements for enterprise customers.

Phones based on OS v9 are expected to launch in the second half of this year, and Symbian is hoping the latest version of the operating system will help it to crack the mass market.

Peter Bancroft, Symbian's VP of market communications, told silicon.com that OS v9 would help operators to create more customised devices, such as smart phones designed for mobile workers, gamers or people keen on multimedia services.

Symbian wasn't able to release any details of forthcoming OS v9 phones but it's possible that this could include the first Symbian phones based on Intel chips.

In October 2004, Intel announced that it was developing a reference platform for Symbian 3G phones. Bancroft confirmed that Intel's reference platform was compatible with OS v9.

While operators might be considering segmenting their phones to cater for ever more niche markets, that won't automatically mean a whole flood of new user interfaces hitting the market alongside, according to the software maker.

Is Symbian expecting many new UIs? "Not especially," Bancroft said, due to the cash and research and development time that making a new UI needs. "Who know what the market will come up with?" he added.

OS v9 contains a device management application that Symbian claims will make it much easier for mobile operators and IT staff to manage phones remotely. It will allow them to diagnose problems 'over the air', to install new applications and to audit the applications installed on the phone.

"It's great to be able to deploy phones with more functionality but the difficulty is this can generate greater support costs," said Bancroft.

Other enterprise-friendly enhancements include better support for Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), which allows mobile devices access email on a shared server. OS v9 will let mobile workers use the group scheduling features in Lotus Notes and Outlook, for example to accept meeting requests remotely.

Symbian OS v9 represents a "binary break" from previous versions of the operating system, so the vast majority of existing applications will need to be adapted to work on it.

Security has also had a makeover in the new Symbian OS.

In order to stop malware along the lines of smart phone virus Cabir, Symbian has restricted an app's ability to access data and services it shouldn't.

The OS gives and withholds permission from applications to access "sensitive" capabilities, including making a call or web connection or accessing personal information.

"You don't want an application that says one thing and does another - that's what Trojans do," Bancroft.

The spreading methods used by viruses so far haven't proved a threat so far, according to Bancroft: "There just aren't enough phones, Bluetooth doesn't extend far enough" - but that doesn't mean the malware isn't an issue.

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK.