Symbian lowers prices for its operating system

Symbian announced new pricing models, looking to encourage wider adoption of its operating system by handset manufacturers. Most manufacturers have operated under a pricing model that charges US$7.50 per unit for the first 2 million handsets sold and $5 a handset thereafter. After seeing Symbian’s new models, some manufacturers may see costs drop to as low as $2.50 per unit.

The new pricing models offered would not charge a higher royalty fee for the first 2 million units. Symbian also looks to motivate manufacturers to use the latest version of the Symbian OS. Symbian is wise to offer more competitive pricing, due to the increased competition offered by other mobile operating systems such as Linux, Windows Mobile, and the Palm OS.

Symbian press release?