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Nokia said it would buy out other shareholders of UK-based smartphone software maker Symbian for $US 410 million and make its software royalty-free to other phone makers in response to new rivals such as Google.

According to Reuters, Nokia will contribute Symbian's assets to the not-for-profit organization, Symbian Foundation, in which it would unite with leading handset makers, network operators and communications chipmakers to create a full open-source platform.

This has seen a number of analysts proclaim the deal as a victory for the open-source movement, with Nokia validating a business model pursued by competitors like Google's Android platform and LiMo (Linex Mobile) Foundation.

However, eetimes.com notes that despite all the talk about open-source development and freedom to add or differentiate on a platform, "the Symbian Foundation's offering may end up with just one target browser for smart phones".

John Forsyth, vice president of strategy at Symbian, was quoted as saying that, "One target browser covering most of the world's phones is a good thing", and noted that making a standard browser part of the platform will be "critical" in the foundation's next phase. It will help to "cut tremendous cost, and it's a healthy thing for application developers," he explained, says eetimes.com.