Nokia’s smartphone partnership with Microsoft doesn’t spell the end of its legacy Symbian platform.

 

Ever since Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer announced the Windows Phone 7 collaboration a fortnight ago, the vendor has been in PR overdrive to explain that Symbian isn’t dead.

 

First, Elop noted that Nokia isn’t abandoning its Series 30 and 40 platforms for mass-market smartphones, which both utilize Symbian, though he hinted the WP7 platform is more suitable for its current E-series line of business oriented devices.

 

Then, at the Mobile World Congress, chief technology officer Rich Green noted that Symbian will remain a mainstay of Nokia devices for some time.

 

Operating systems don’t disappear overnight, and there is life in the old dog yet in terms of future shipments of up to 150 million devices. Those units will add to the 200 million or so Symbian handsets already in the market, meaning the platform should remain a good target for apps developers, Green said.

 

This week, Vlasta Berka, general manager for Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei revealed the firm is continuing to develop the platform, with 50 updates in the works for 2011. He noted the number of devices in the market means it would be madness for Nokia to simply walk away from the platform.