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Nokia’s software platform may be struggling to survive in an intensely competitive market, and new releases from Sharp (News - Alert) and Fujitsu may help. A recent Reuters report shows that 11 new smartphones models running the Symbian software have been unveiled by the companies, giving a boost to Nokia’s (News - Alert) market presence.

At present, Symbian is the largest smartphone operating system since it has been used on more than 400 million phones since 2000. This dominance was attacked with the launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007. Japan is still a strong market for Nokia, however, and manufacturers there are still embracing the operating system.

The operating system took a hit last year when Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics and Sony Ericsson abandoned Symbian.

Nokia announced earlier this week that it plans to take over development of the platform, beginning April of 2011. It was just a few years ago that Nokia turned the power over to the independent Symbian Foundation. After Nokia reclaims power, the Symbian Foundation will take care of licensing the software.

According to Ben Wood, research director at British consultancy CCS Insight, Japanese manufacturers have effectively created their own version of Symbian and are likely to continue using it regardless of Nokia’s taking back control.

"On this basis, it is likely they will continue to forge their own path. However, this approach does not deliver the economies of scale Nokia envisaged at the inception of the Symbian Foundation," Wood said in the Reuters (News - Alert) piece.

Nokia receives no direct benefit from other makers using the platform, although its own portfolio is helped by the breadth of independent software developed for use on the phone. This is in turn increased by a bigger user base.

In other Nokia news, the company is working with 3M. The two global giants recently announced initiatives that illustrate the increased convergence of smart ecosystems across industry sectors as we move into 2010. 3M is set to launch a new Mobile Interactive Solutions Division, a move that should herald some interesting breakthroughs in smartphone screen displays, projection and touch capabilities.

Ubiquisys has announced a new standards-compliant WCDMA femtocell solution with Nokia Siemens (News - Alert) Networks. The solution features standardized Iuh and TR-196 interfaces between Ubiquisys Femtocell Access Points and Nokia Siemens Networks Femto Gateways and Femto Management Systems. By end of 4Q, the solution will have been tested by several mobile operators and becomes generally available in 1Q 2011.