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Mobile-Phone Showdown

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Mobile-Phone Showdown

By Jay Yarow

Nokia, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Research In Motion, and more—all these companies are squaring off as they position themselves for the era of the mobile Internet. For years, experts have predicted that people will begin to tap the Net from their mobile phones. Now in a rush, it's happening. That has led some of the most powerful companies in technology to scramble for a piece of the action.

The latest move came on June 24, when Nokia took full control of Symbian, which makes the most popular operating system for mobile phones. Nokia spent $410 million in the deal. But it plans to set up an independent foundation that will give away the Symbian software. Why? It wants to parry moves by Google and others to take control of the operating system on mobile phones. The software is strategically important: It's the foundation on which companies like Nokia, Google, Microsoft, and others will offer whizzy new Internet services.

Here's a look at the other major players providing operating system software for mobile phones. All market-share data is from researcher IDC.