Nokia has hunkered down for a battle with Google as the two behemoths race each other to develop the world’s first open source software platform for mobile phones.

Last year, Google had cobbled an alliance of 30 partners to develop the Android, a software platform that would allow developers to build a suite of applications for mobile phones.

But now Nokia has undermined the alliance by teaming up with a bunch of heavy hitters — some of them members of the Android alliance — to create a new operating system that promises to have a lot more firepower.

Nokia stunned the telecom world by acquiring a 52 per cent stake in Symbian — a British software company — for $410 million. It already owned the rest.

The Symbian operating system is the world’s foremost smartphone platform, and is about to become much stronger. Smartphones are handsets with computer-like capabilities.

Nokia, the world’s biggest handset maker, will throw Symbian’s mobile phone operating system open for royalty-free use.

The Finnish giant is launching a non-profit Symbian Foundation that will unite the Symbian’s operating system with three user interfaces — Nokia’s S60, Motorola/Sony’s UIQ and NTT DoCoMo’s MOAP — to create one open mobile software platform.

This is exactly what Android had set out to do when Google announced its Open Handset Alliance last November. It had even unveiled a prototype of the Android software at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona back in February.

But the Android has run into delays and the industry is abuzz with rumours that it won’t be available for use in devices before 2009. Google had earlier set a launch deadline for the second half of this year.

Nokia was quick to dismiss the idea that its moves were simply a reaction to its rivals. “This is a market-making move and looking at it as a response to anything would not do justice to what we are doing,” said Kai Oistamo, the executive vice-president of Nokia.

But analysts were in little doubt. “This move is a shrewd response to growing threats from other providers of mobile phone software,” said Geoff Blaber of industry watchers CCS Insight.

The founding members of the Symbian Foundation are: Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone.

Nokia’s ability to persuade some of Android’s partners – notably Motorola and Samsung – to join its initiative raises questions about whether these companies will still remain committed to Android.

Industry experts reckon that some of these companies could be hedging their bets and that’s why they have chosen to ride with both Symbian and Android. Much will depend on which camp is able to deliver the next killer application for mobiles.

Symbian appears to have an edge over Android at present because more than 200 million phones currently use the Symbian operating software. It is always easier to change a software that is known than work with something that is starting from scratch like the Android, experts say.

If Android loses out, Symbian will then get ready for a bigger slugfest with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating software.

Unlike Symbian and Android, Microsoft doesn’t provide its source codes of its program to enable developers to create newer applications. Microsoft is believed to charge between $8 and $15 per phone from handset makers.

With inputs from The Daily Telegraph