China Mobile Expresses Support For Symbian Foundation

The Symbian Foundation won a key supporter for its Symbian mobile operating system after China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) expressed its technical support of the group late Tuesday.

Bringing China Mobile into the Symbian fold is key to the platform maintaining its dominance in the key Chinese market and throughout Asia, particularly at a time when rivals such as Apple Inc. (AAPL) and its iPhone are starting to make their entry.

China Mobile agreed to make integrate the approval process for its own application store, Mobile Market, with the Symbian testing service, so developers working on Symbian apps will automatically get approved for the marketplace.

"The Symbian platform holds a strong position in China's mobile market and we welcome the opportunity to build our relationship with the Symbian Foundation," China Mobile executive Lu Xiang Dong said in a statement.

Symbian, meanwhile, will support China Mobile's buildout of the TD-SCDMA 3G network, which runs on a standard that's proprietary to the country. Symbian also launched a Chinese-language version of its Web site and would support China developers.

The alliance comes after Apple recently struck a deal to bring its iPhone to China Unicom Ltd. (CHU). The deal, however, isn't exclusive, and many expect the iPhone to show at the other two state-owned Chinese carriers.

Symbian, which is a platform largely used by Nokia, is the leading mobile operating system in the world. But the software is losing share to rivals such as Apple and Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM).

David Wood, part of the leadership team at the Symbian Foundation, said he expects more iPhones in China. But he also expects more Symbian phones as more consumers embrace smartphones.

"In a way, it's good for the market," he said. "It keeps all of us on our toes."

Symbian's support of China Mobile and the Chinese market should help with the development of cellphones, Wood said. Well-known equipment vendors ZTE Corp. (0763.HK) and Huawei Technologies Co. (HWI.YY) are eager to further push their products and brands overseas.

"There's a real passion and hunger to get products established on the world stage," Wood said.

-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2153; [e-mail]