Symbian show musings part 2....

Some quick thoughts:

... Symbian really needs to persuade one or more licencees to produce a ruggedised smartphone for enterprises. Many companies will start deploying mobile applications on high-end handhelds from companies like Symbol, and then work "downwards" towards other mobile devices. If they deploy applications on Microsoft-powered ruggedised devices for field service employees, they are unlikely to port these to Symbian OS when they look at enabling phone-based users.

... an increasing number of Symbian (and Microsoft) phones are featuring WiFi. There seems to be disagreement as to whether applications and users need to be "bearer aware" - ie should they know if they are connected via cellular, WLAN, or both (and in future WiMAX and other broadband technologies). I think it's imperative - end users, be they consumer or business - already behave differently when they use WiFi. They don't think about data volumes (think about large attachments, or web radio streaming), they want access to local resources (PC, corporate servers, HiFi etc), and their dependencies on security, latency, QoS and price all differ. It isn't obvious at present whether Symbian (and by extension Series 60 and UIQ) have fully understood this yet.