Smartphone and Communicator have become household words. Portable equipment is already an integral part of our life. From expensive toys for the very rich only, today they are gradually becoming inseparable companions of a growing number of average people. Mobility is the key word characterising modern information technologies.

   Let us define these terms first. Smartphone often indicates equipment with no keyboard, designed for data-related operations and intended for popular use. Communicator is a high-performance device with a keyboard and a large screen, oriented for the “professional user”. Such GPRS and HSCSD equipment offer the user a complete communication tool, capable of sending and receiving e-mail, faxes, searching the Internet, editing documents, etc. The Communicator has one prime advantage over notebooks: it is very compact and requires no high-powered battery for long-time operation. The operational systems used in notebooks are mainly dependent on the resources of the hardware itself, such as the memory and disc capacity, which makes such systems impossible to be used in Smartphones and Communicators. The SYMBIAN OS, known earlier as EPOS 32, was developed exactly for such equipment. While WINDOWS CE and PALM compete for leadership in the market of portable computers, SIMBIAN tries to add comfort to phones by utilizing its own intellectual packages.

   SYMBIAN OS (EPOS 32) was developed by a company called SYIMBIAN, a joint venture formed by Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia and Psion. Later SYMBIAN was joined by Matsushita, Kenwood, Fujitsu, Siemens, and others.

   SYIMBIAN integrated the EPOS operational system developed by Psion with technologies offered by other partners, and allowed to make effective use of their rich experience in the market of mobile communications. The total number of mobile handsets sold by those companies amount to 80% of market sales.
   The first version of EPOS 32, issued in April 1997, became the precursor of a new generation of operational systems. The version was based on the vast experience of Psion in the industry of portable mobile equipment.

   Psion developed personal organizers thirteen years ago, in 1984. The original model had an 8-bit processor programmable on Assembler and Basic. In 1991, the company began producing a series of equipment under the common name Psion Series 3, making personal organizers available for the average consumer. The new operational system was named SIBO (Sixteen-Bit Organizer).  It is often called SYMBIAN OS16. The system used the technology of dividing a nucleus and a program interface into separate independent components, which later became an integral part of the 32-bit SYMBIAN OS. However, SIBO could only be used with x86 processors, because it had its own 16-bit architecture, with the majority of the system nucleus written in Assembler.

   Over the course of time, portable computers became more and more powerful. By 1994 the 64-Kb limitation became a serious obstacle for 16-bit systems in the way of developing personal organizers. It gave rise to the birth of SYMBIAN OS, which preserved all the best aspects of its predecessor, while also offering qualitatively new, 32-bit processors.

   What does SYMBIAN OS mean today? It is an efficient operational system utilizing modern standards and protocols, such as BLUETOOTH, GPRS, etc. The nucleus of the operational system is multi-problem, high-performance and very compact, allowing a shift to virtually any platform. The UNICODE shell allows the system to be adapted to any language. SYMBIAN OS is compatible with most standards, such as GSM/EGSM, GPRS, HSCSD, and CMDA. It offers a full set of office, organizational and communications software. The graphic interface is used to manage the computer and other programs.

   SYMBIAN OS is an advanced, open operational system, licensed by the world's leading manufacturers of mobile handsets. It has been developed on the basis of the specific requirements prompted by the 2G and 3G handsets. SYMBIAN OS combines integrated software and mobile technologies, bringing an up-to-date information service to the global market.

   SYMBIAN OS is one of the most significant and necessary elements of mobile communications technology. The mobile manufacturers, network operators and software developers regard it as an industrial standard focused on the consumer and meeting all of the demands of the market of today.

   SYMBIAN OS was developed and intended for licensing to a wide circle of manufacturers. Manufacturers can alter its visual side, but they are obliged to preserve its compatibility with existing systems. The system has been developed to allow changing of the standard EKON environment with any other graphic interface. One of the major advantages of the OS is the capability to create one's own software through a mobile handset with different programming languages such as Java, C++, etc.

   SYMBIAN has announced the launch of a new version of the OS: SYMBIAN OS 7.0. The noteworthy advantage of this version is its 3G software. The use of the OS allows manufacturers to provide high-speed (150 Kbps) Internet access to their products.

   The use of SYMBIAN OS mobile handset models such as Nokia Communicator 9210 and Ericsson R380 and R380e increases by the day. The same pattern is occurring with a number of mobile phones with information transfer capabilities. It is forecasted that these phones will acquire 35% of the total market share by 2003.