Symbian tablets and netbooks coming in the next few years?

Now that Symbian OS is open source, developers all over the world can pretty much do everything they want with its source code. Including porting the OS to different devices – like tablets and netbooks.

In an interview with ZDNet UK, Symbian Foundation chief executive Lee Williams says that “it’s very likely that, in the next year or two,” Symbian tablets or netbooks will be available on the market. This will probably happen after Symbian^4 or Symbian^5 are out.

Nokia already has a netbook – the Booklet 3G – but it’s based on Windows 7. Of course, the Symbian tablets and netbooks could come from any other company interested in making them, and not (just) from Nokia.

(this is just a mockup, obviously based on Apple’s iPad)

Tablet and netbook talk aside, Lee Williams has also unveiled interesting details about Symbian^3 and Symbian^4.

For example, Symbian^3 will resemble the Series 60 UI “in the way you navigate,” but there are visual enhancements, as well as a reduced number of menu options and inputs.

As for Symbian^4, this will have a “power UI”, introducing “a whole new graphical approach.”

Let’s remember that the first Symbian^3 phones will be available starting the second half of 2010, with Symbian^4 phones coming in the first half of 2011.

Via SlashGear

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