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BARCELONA–Executives from Sony Ericsson, the struggling European handset maker working hard to make a turnaround in 2010, said most of its new phones introduced this coming year will sport the Google Android operating system.

On the eve of the Mobile World Congress trade show, Sony Ericsson held a press conference here to show off its three new smartphones due out the first half of 2010. All three phones fit into an existing portfolio of devices that the company is calling the Fab Five. And two of the latest handsets will use Google Android.

The two new Android phones are follow-on products to another Android device Sony Ericsson introduced in November, the X10. The new phones, the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro, are similar to the X10, but smaller and more compact than the original device.

The third phone announced, the Vivaz Pro, adds a QWERTY keyboard to the Vivaz, a device announced by Sony Ericsson. These phones use the Symbian operating system.

Up until recently, Sony Ericsson mostly used the Symbian operating system for its smartphones. Now, the company’s CEO Bert Nordberg said the company will use three mobile OSes: Symbian, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and Google Android.

That said, most of the new smartphones launched in 2010 will use Google Android, he said.

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Symbian Foundation has announced its completion of the open sourcing of the Symbian Platform with the release of Symbian 3.

The Symbian Foundation has announced its completion of the open sourcing of the Symbian Platform with the release of Symbian 3.

On February 4, Symbian Foundation officials said the organization had successfully completed the open source release of the source code for the Symbian Platform, which has become the world’s most widely-used smartphone operating system.

Indeed, the Symbian Platform, which has been developed over more than 10 years and has shipped in more than 330 million devices around the world, is now completely open and the source code is available for free under the Eclipse Public License (EPL).

Initially, the foundation projected that its effort to open-source the Symbian Platform would take until June of 2010, but the team was able to beat that mark by four months.

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Google’s Android mobile operating system will become the second most-popular mobile platform by 2013, according to a new report by IDC.

Who will continue to rule the cell phone roost? Symbian, according to the research firm.

By 2013, IDC forecasts that worldwide shipments of smartphones will surpass 390 million units, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20.9 percent.

“Mobile operating systems have become the key ingredient in the highly competitive mobile device market. Although the overall look and feel of the device will still play an important role in the buying process, the wrong choice of operating system coupled with an awkward user interface can mean the difference between success and failure,” said Stephen D. Drake, vice president, Mobility and Telecom, in prepared remarks.

Key takeaways from the report:

• Symbian will remain the No. 1 mobile OS worldwide, thanks to Nokia’s strength outside the U.S.
• Android will experience the fastest growth of any mobile operating system: from 690,000 units in 2008 to 68.0 million units by 2013 (that’s 150.4 percent compound annual growth).
• Linux and webOS handsets “will struggle.” Android will suck most of the life out of other Linux platforms and Palm’s webOS, despite steady growth, will be limited by restrained deployment and availability of devices across multiple carriers.

No mention of BlackBerry overlords RIM in the announcement, but judging by Android’s growth, that’s not a good sign for them, either.

Either way, there’s no way development market can sustain so many different platforms. And with Symbian (and Nokia) resting on its innovation laurels, it’s no surprise Android stands to benefit.

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Operators pushed market share of cellphones running Google’s software a little higher in September quarter in Western Europe, but consumers showed little interest toward them, research firm IDC said on Saturday.

Android has won attention in the mobile industry lately, with Motorola and Sony Ericsson choosing it for their new top models.

Market share of smartphones running Google’s Android operating system (OS) rose to 5.4 percent from 4.2 percent in July-September in Western Europe, a key area for the smartphone market.

“Consumers steer clear of Google’s OS and sell-out is below everyone’s expectations. Consumers recognize the Google brand, but still do not understand what Android is,” IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said in a statement.

“The lack of devices available didn’t help to raise awareness, though this is expected to change, with more handsets from LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and other vendors hitting the market soon,” Jeronimo said.

Last month Gameloft, one of the largest cellphone game makers, also bashed Android saying it and other software developers were cutting back investment in developing games and other applications for the platform.

Global market leader Symbian — used extensively by Nokia — continued to be the leading operating system also in Western Europe, controlling 48 percent of the market.

Nokia plans to install Linux software on just one new smartphone next year, a source told Reuters on Monday, dampening prospects of a quick makeover of the Finnish group’s struggling product line-up.

The Finnish firm has started to invest more in Internet services in recent years, seeking to counter falling handset prices and increased competition in smartphones from the likes of Apple and Blackberry-maker RIM.

The Linux Maemo operating system is seen as key for Nokia in its rivalry with Apple Inc’s iPhone, and many analysts and industry players have been expecting the firm to roll out numerous Linux models already next year.

“This is not necessarily worrying, but they need a hit product. It has to be a winning one and Nokia needs to continue to work on Symbian in the meantime,” said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

Nokia started to sell its first Linux phone, the top-of-the-range N900 model, this month.

AdMob, the mobile ad network that Google plans to acquire for $750 million, today released their October 2009 Metrics Report examining market share for top devices and the operating systems that run on them.

One stat in particular caught our eye. In the US, Android had 20 percent share of smartphone traffic, up from only seven percent six months before. Now that there’s proof that these phones are selling, Android may solidify its spot as a go-to operating system for device makers looking to get into the lucrative smartphone market.

In line with Admob’s findings, last month Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney highlighted for Computerworld a research report spotlighting Android Operating System would be the second most used OS, grabbing 14 percent of the global smartphone market share by 2012. That would be second only to the Symbian Operating System that is widely used by Nokia in countries outside the U.S.

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