Nokia ushering out Symbian, says report

Nokia is rumoured to be winding down its Symbian platform.

The Finnish phone giant has cancelled the development of all but one new device carrying the once dominant operating system, according to The Register.

Nokia Belle updates will continue to reach existing customers, but the only new Symbian-powered handset to hit the market will be a follow-up N8 high-end camera phone, the report notes.

The firm announced its transition to the Windows Phone operating system last year, estimating that it will sell 150 million more Symbian devices before the move was completed. However, Nokia has since admitted that the operating system's influence is declining faster than expected.

"We now believe that we will sell fewer Symbian devices than we previously anticipated," said CEO Stephen Elop.

The move is expected to have major ramifications for Nokia's partners, such as Accenture, who acquired 3,000 Symbian developers from the firm following its switch to the Windows OS.

Symbian was the world's leading mobile operating system until it was eclipsed by Google's Android in November last year.