Power in the palm of your hand - who holds the handheld aces?

When Nokia last month revealed the next-generation version of its Communicator smartphone - the 9210 - the company hailed the launch as a milestone. On the one hand, the Finnish telecoms equipment powerhouse was understandably touting the progress it has made with mobile internet hardware. However, at the same time, the product marks the first device from the company based on the Symbian operating system.

Symbian has received a lot of media and analyst attention since it was created in the summer of 1998. That's not surprising given its shareholders read like a who's who of mobile and handheld players - Ericsson, Matsushita, Motorola, Nokia and of course Psion, which first created the EPOC.

At the launch of the Nokia 9210 Communicator, Symbian CEO Colly Myers said the arrival of the device, based on EPOC 6.0, changes the closed nature of mobile platforms. But predictably, he stopped short of hyping a Nokia-Symbian device as any better than one from say, Ericsson or Motorola.

It's in Nokia's interest to get Symbian to sing the praises of its products, but at the same time, Symbian must rely on hardware OEMs to talk up its benefits, and the problem is that's only likely when products are available.

Peter Richardson, analyst at Gartner, said: "Symbian is its own worst enemy. It expects Nokia, Ericsson and others to do the publicity, but they won't do anything until they have something to announce. They need a more public face."

Besides Nokia's upcoming 9210, Ericsson has already made available its R380 smartphone based on EPOC 5.0, and although it has had some good reviews, these products alone aren't enough of a foundation to base a full-on marketing offensive against arch-rival Microsoft.

Compare the Nokia/Symbian launch to a deal Microsoft struck recently with French handset maker Sagem. The Sagem WA3050 compares to Nokia's latest Communicator in some respects - it's a dual-band GSM phone which promises large screen, high-speed data communication (although it will employ packet-based GPRS rather than the circuit-switched and not as well regarded HSCSD transmission technology of the Communicator).

Critically, the Sagem device is based on Microsoft's PocketPC OS, which has changed in more than just name from its previous incarnation as the much-maligned Windows CE.

Microsoft is very happy with the Sagem product and the multimedia services it promises. For example, Anne-Marie Duffy, Microsoft UK Wireless and Mobility marketing manager, called it "incredibly integrated" - a claim some analysts have questioned.

However, taking a wider view suggests that Microsoft's partnerships with handset OEMs such as Samsung and Sony don't compare favourably with Symbian's natural affinity with the big three of Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia. But it is doubtful any of the manufacturers are shunning talks with OS providers - let alone the world's largest - and we could yet see Microsoft make advances into Symbian's natural constituency.

That's how some commentators characterised a deal between Ericsson and Microsoft a year ago. The two companies have since set up a joint venture with a facility in Stockholm, but seem to be focusing on enhancing synchronised fixed and mobile email based on the Windows 2000 Exchange platform as well as use of the Microsoft Mobile Explorer microbrowser.

Indeed, Ericsson president Kurt Hellstrom, speaking at the most recent Comdex event, said the company is still committed to the Symbian OS. The industry is watching carefully.

Another pointer suggesting the companies making up Symbian may look elsewhere is the progress of the third major mobile OS player, Palm. Palm OS-based PDAs remain market share leaders around the world, despite the groundswell of handheld OEMs around the improved PocketPC. However, translating this into a converged, smartphone world is another thing.

Palm has licensed its highly efficient OS to companies like Kyocera and Motorola, while Nokia is working with the Palm user interface (UI). Palm declined to comment on the launch of the Nokia 9210 Communicator, but it is clearly hoping those handset makers now committed to Symbian may hedge their bets in its direction too.

With a nod towards Nokia, Richard Kinder, market development manager Europe for the Palm Platform, said: "The value of the Palm OS isn't just in the UI. It's also, for example, in the development community, which numbers more than 100,000."

Palm, like the others, realises the future lies in a converged market, but is itself adding communications functions through the sleds its handhelds slide into for recharging and synchronising, and wireless integration with other devices. It will continue to seek licensees.

This is a slightly different battle to the one being fought between partnerships such as Nokia-Symbian's Communicator and Sagem-Microsoft's WA3050 phone, and future variations on these from different camps.

Carsten Schmidt, associate analyst at Forrester, said: "I'm not sure how much of a success the Communicator has been or will be from now on. It's not only aimed at the mobile business person, but the high-end of that. But in the business area, Symbian makes sense."

However, as research houses predict around 300 million of these types of devices being sold over the next five years, success may come down to something simple.

Microsoft, by itself and with Ericsson, is investing money and effort in taking business applications away from the desktop and onto any device. But if products such as the 9210 and other high-end smartphones only ship in quantities of around one million, there's a huge opportunity for lower-end converged devices that are easy for anyone to use. Success here will depend on branding and marketing. It's tempting to say roll on Microsoft, roll on Palm, and Symbian - start shouting louder.