The group behind the world's most trendy smartphone operating system - Symbian - is giving away "billions of dollars" worth of code for free.
The Symbian Foundation's decision to make its code open source means that any organization or individual can now use and modify it "for any purpose".
Symbian has shipped in more than 330m mobile phones, the foundation says.
It believes that the move will focus new developers to work on the system and help speed up the pace of improvements.
"This is the largest open source migration effort ever," Lee Williams of the Symbian Foundation told BBC News.
The Symbian Foundation's decision to make its code open source means that any organization or individual can now use and modify it "for any purpose".
Symbian has shipped in more than 330m mobile phones, the foundation says.
It believes that the move will focus new developers to work on the system and help speed up the pace of improvements.
"This is the largest open source migration effort ever," Lee Williams of the Symbian Foundation told BBC News.
Evolutionary barrier
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia bought the software in 2008 and helped establish the non-profit Symbian Foundation to manage its development.
The foundation includes Nokia, AT&T, LG, Motorola, NTT Docomo, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone.
The group has now released what it calls the Symbian platform as open source code. This platform unites different elements of the Symbian operating system as well as components - in particular, user interfaces - developed by individual members. It can be downloaded from the foundation's website.
The foundation includes Nokia, AT&T, LG, Motorola, NTT Docomo, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone.
The group has now released what it calls the Symbian platform as open source code. This platform unites different elements of the Symbian operating system as well as components - in particular, user interfaces - developed by individual members. It can be downloaded from the foundation's website.
Mind share
Symbian development is currently conquered by Nokia, but the foundation hoped to reduce the firm's input to "no more than 50%" by the middle of 2011, said Mr Williams.
"We will see a dramatic shift in terms of who is contributing to the platform."
However, said Mr Williams, the foundation would monitor phones using the platform to ensure that they met with minimum standards
"We will see a dramatic shift in terms of who is contributing to the platform."
However, said Mr Williams, the foundation would monitor phones using the platform to ensure that they met with minimum standards
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