Nokia Buys Out Psion - Controls Symbian

As predicted here (and a few other places), and despite Ewan's assurance to me last night that it couldn't happen, Nokia bought out Psion's shares and is going to now control 63% of Symbian. News Links:

• Nokia's Press Release
• Symbian's Press Release
• The (obligatory) Reg article
• The Feature
• BBC
• The Inq

I'm sure there'll be more as this is pretty big news. So some quick 9 a.m analysis: It was pretty obvious that something like this was going to happen. The vast majority of the SymbianOS licenses sold are to Nokia (we were guessing last night about 8 to 1, maybe more) and with Motorola gone, there's no reason for Nokia to not want to control the company which holds such a strategic position in their current and future offerings. Like I said a few days ago, the market is converging on smart phones and it'd be crazy for Nokia, which sells 1 out of 3 mobile phones in the world, not to control Symbian or even buy it outright.

Mobitopia - Nokia Buys Out Psion - Controls Symbian