Oh snap! Google, Symbian trade barbs at Open Mobile Summit

by Chris Ziegler, posted Nov 27th 2008 at 3:02PM

Nothing like a couple passive-aggressive keynote speeches and some spirited debate to get the blood pumping -- and with competition in the open mobile platform space more heated than it's ever been before, it was just a matter of time before these cats met up in a back alley brawl, Anchorman-style. That brawl came at San Francisco's Open Mobile Summit last week, where tensions boiled over into a series of subtle (and not-so-subtle) jabs between Google exec Rich Miner, Symbian veep Jerry Panagrossi, and Nokia's Mary McDowell. Pimping Android's security model, Miner came out swinging with accusations that Symbian's architecture leaves it with security flaws, a claim Panagrossi vigorously denied; interestingly, Larry Berkin of Access (yes, that Access) -- of all people -- stepped in to break up the fight and say Miner had it wrong. Panagrossi went on to suggest Android might be a niche platform, and... well, you can pretty much imagine that it went downhill from there. Drama!

[Image via I Can Has Cheezburger?, thanks Jota E.]

Filed under: Software, Nokia, Symbian, Android

Tags: android, google, nokia, open mobile summit, OpenMobileSummit, symbian

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Neutral

Sloan @ Nov 27th 2008 5:29PM

Take em out Symbian!!. Having not used Android I can't say anything but S60 seems incredible stable to me. Unsecure are you kidding do you know what it takes (or did take before opensign) to get application onto the S60 platform? Also prior to any network connection you are prompted which service you would like to provide. I keep my accounting data on my N95 and have no problem feeling secure. Take a swing baby!

Neutral

Fernando @ Nov 27th 2008 6:36PM

Hah, I don't think Android can talk about security after this http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/11/08/epic-android-bug-inteprets-your-typing-as-system-commands/

Neutral

PEZ @ Nov 27th 2008 9:38PM

Oh man, battle of the network mobile OS's! This should be animated ala family guy style.

I like symbian, but it needs its ass some tweaking. But the E70-2 is one of the best phones ever made - for its time. So little, so much stuff. Android needs more time in the market to really mature, but its a great OS.

Neutral

Randy @ Nov 28th 2008 12:28PM

You know, I really don't get all this hate between platforms. Symbian is pretty nice if a little dated UI-wise. Android is a very good 1.0 product. There's really no reason to think that both won't evolve and improve over time.

Neutral

Robin Batt @ Jan 5th 2009 11:32AM

We've posted the original podcast from this panel at:
http://www.openmobilemedia.com

Working on the video release and other podcasts - sign up to the newsletter to be alerted when it's available

Comments / ideas for future events (London June 09 / SF Nov 09)- please email me -

robin batt
exec producer / founder
open mobile summit / open mobile media
robin@openmobilemedia.com