With Nokia set to embark on the development and production of Windows Phone devices imminently, the role of Symbian in its line up appears to be unclear.
The last hoorah?
That's something Nokia took time out to address during its first press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Both CEO Stephen Elop and VP of smartphones Jo Harlow attested that the Symbian platform won't be abandoned straight away, even though Windows Phone is set to dominate the firm's output in the years ahead.
Indeed, Elop told the assembled masses that a "fresh wave of Symbian products and updates are on the way" - improvements to the platform's UI, as well as a fresh look and feel, on board for what Harlow claimed will be hardware running 1GHz plus processors.
Shifting away from Symbian
As an aside, it simply wouldn't be good business sense for Nokia to abandon the platform at a stroke, Elop stated, given the firm sold 28.5 million Symbian devices in 2010.
Instead, shipments of WP7 handsets will gradually rise as Symbian is superseded, with Nokia reflecting shifting consumer demand rather than preceding it.
As for the first Nokia Windows Phone device, Harlow refused to be pushed on an exact release date, though she did comment that "her boss would be happier if it were in 2011".
Delaying the inevitableGoing from the illustration released by Nokia at the event, commentators are already suggesting Symbian will effectively be phased out by 2015, with Windows Phone becoming the OEM's priority from then onwards.
Where Symbian goes from there, of course, is less certain.
With its biggest and most powerful backer calling time on the platform within the next four years Sony Ericsson having dropped the OS back in September Elop's assurances won't necessarily fill those still working on Symbian with much confidence.
[source: All About Symbian]
