We could soon see a Symbian-powered tablet similar to the iPad hit the shelves. The Symbian operating system’s transition to full open source means we could soon see a device capable of taking on the Apple iPad. Read on for more details…

Symbian Foundation boss Lee Williams, who was speaking to ZDNet on how the mobile OS would evolve in the open-source era said that Symbian’s ability to run on the x86 architecture used by Intel-based PCs meant there was in theory nothing stopping a Symbian-based tablet or netbook from being developed.

“It’s very likely that, in the next year or two, you would see such a product hit the marketplace,” Williams confirmed. “A lot of companies are experimenting with PDA-tablet-style form factors.”

The media frenzy surrounding the iPad’s launch last month has boosted the tablet form factor’s profile significantly, though Williams did admit that thus far, only “occasional interest” had been expressed in taking the concept forward.

Williams also confirmed that the release of Symbian version 3 was imminent but in terms of the interface, the big changes were coming in Symbian Version 4: “It will look very similar [to Symbian S60] in the way you navigate, menu navigation and so forth. There are enhancements to the visual elements — a slightly sleeker interface, depth and polish. There are enhancements where we reduced the number of inputs and menu options.

“You will see a different UI in Symbian version 3; it just won’t be the ‘power UI’ until about Symbian version 4. The version 4 code will be available in a matter of weeks, but it will not be fully maturised or packaged into a kit for software developers and others for another four to five months.”

Via ZDNet