Mobile Entertainment

Nokia's acquisition of Symbian this week completed a quite profound sea change in the mobile handset sector, which has now swung decisively from a proprietary to open OS environment in just seven months.

Google shook everything up last November when it confirmed it was pushing ahead with a Linux-based mobile OS initiative called Android. Cue levels of developer excitement usually reserved for things like the iPhone (but more on Apple's device later).

In fact the Linux-based open mobile OS movement (for Android is based on Linux) has been gaining ground for some time via the LiMo (Linux Mobile) Foundation, which is backed by heavy hitters like Motorola, NEC, DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and Vodafone.

Even Qualcomm is getting it on the 'open' act as it seeks to make its previously very closed BREW ecosystem (albeit not quite an OS) all cuddly and accessible.

That leaves Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Apple's OS X and to a lesser extent RIM's BlackBerry OS as the remaining proprietary systems out there. None has a huge market share (though to be fair Android has zero market share and may even have to wait longer than expected to get some).

Why is all this important to the content biz? Well, EA for one welcomed Nokia's Symbian move, saying it means less fragmentation for it and other mobile games publishers to deal with, in addition to an expected upswing in Symbian-based smartphones for them to target.

Even better, the theory goes that anyone can develop an app for an open source platform, throwing the doors open to a more democratic long tail of mobile content.

But isn't all this missing the point a bit? Surely what really matters for the mobile content industry is the effectiveness of its sales channels, regardless of OS.

How ironic that the channel that everyone's been whooping about the most recently is Apple's App Store - an entirely closed market running on a proprietary operating system.

Maybe the future won't be as open as everyone thinks. After all, the 'most open European Championships for years' has just seen Germany book their place in the final for the sixth time.