If you had asked me where the mobile phone operating system was heading last week. I would have said something like: “Symbian will continue its gradual decline, Apple’s iPhone special mix will continue to grab the headlines, and Linux-LiMo, Google Android, etc.–would continue its slow, but unstoppable, march to victory.That was last week.

This week, Nokia announced that it was buying Symbian. That wouldn’t have changed what I saw in my crystal ball. Then, Nokia announced they were going to open-source Symbian OS and its development tools and its GUI (graphical user interface) and, OK, Nokia and its partners were going to open-source the whole Symbian ball of wax.

Ka-Boom! Sorry, that was the sound my crystal ball made made as it fell off its stand and smashed into a million pieces.

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