After the initial success of the Maemo 5 platform, many Nokia lovers expected the Linux-based OS to become standard across the entire Nokia range, which made things look a tad shaky for the Symbian OS. However, Nokia’s CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, reinforced Nokia’s two-platform approach, dampening fears about Nokia dropping Symbian too quickly, at Nokia’s Capitol Markets Day. Read on after the jump for more details.

As you may well know, many reports over the past few weeks have suggested that Nokia is about to call it a day with Symbian - dropping it entirely in favour of Maemo. However, according to PCAdvisor this couldn’t be further from the truth:

“Symbian's future on Nokia's smartphones has been questioned lately, but Nokia's support for the OS remains unchanged for the foreseeable future,” said Kallasvuo during a keynote at the company's Capital Markets Day.

He added: “Using Symbian makes good business sense for Nokia, and allows the company to develop cheap smartphones that will democratise the form factor,” said Kallasvuo. 

Maemo, which includes the up-and-coming Maemo 6, is going to be reserved for the most expensive, flagship, devices, such as the Nokia N900.

According to Nokia, the first Maemo 6 device is said to be arriving in the second half of 2010, which should really bring the battle between the big three - Nokia, Apple, RIM -to a head.

One of the biggest issues with Symbian is that is doesn’t fully support touchscreen devices, and for this reason, has cost Nokia ground in the smartphone race.

Fortunately, Nokia has confirmed that it is working on both Symbian and its interaction with touchscreen UIs. According to Nokia, by the middle of next year, a new version of Symbian will make a first step toward a better user interface, and this time next year the user experience on Symbian will be a non-issue.

In addition, future Maemo 6 and Symbian devices will both offer an improved UI, as well as the ability to multitask across many different applications and programs, which is something the iPhone has still yet to manage. 

What are your thoughts about Nokia’s move to make Maemo exclusive and Symbian exoteric? If you’ve used either, and have an opinion, tell us about in the comments below.

Source: PCAdvisor