It's amazing what yuo can find on even the most tedious of technology news sites. I visited a Microsoft based site (sorry, I know - I was bored) and found a link to this fature on the Always On Network. It's an interview with Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation of America. In it, he is asked about his relationship with palm and Symbian. His reply is simple......

[quote="Sir Howard Stringer"]
In terms of our OS strategy, it is not clear whether Symbian, which we share with the Nokia phones, is the right way to go for the mobile phone. And I can’t tell you why Sony has a Symbian OS on its phones and Palm OS on its PDAs. Laughs Even Bill Gates asked me if I was crazy. But this is our history. I really want to own either Symbian or Palm—I want to buy them. Three years ago the Palm was so simple, but it is getting better and better. My problem now is that as Palm licensee we have to pay them lots of money.[/quote]

He is also quite rude about Nokia;

[quote="Sir howard Stringer"]
Nokia is focused on volume—selling as many cell phones as possible at a low price. But in my observation, I am not sure they know very clearly what the real opportunity is in the telephone business. We are talking about secure distribution of music on the phone.
[/quote]

So, do you reckon Symbian would do better under Sony's proprietry wing? Is Nokia getting it wrong (after all, Microsoft didn't get to where it was today by focusing on opportunity as much as 'volume' - ie, getting Windows onto every PC in every house and office)?



One final (off topic) point;

[quote="Sir howard Stringer"]
My dream is to supply music to kids in a way where they don’t have to feel guilty. Today, they know that to download music for free is a crime. We have to protect the rights of the artists.
[/quote]

Now, don't get me wrong, I think MiniDisc is the best technology available for portable music, but if this really is his dream, why oh why is the software for getting music onto Sony's MiniDisc so lousy!?