In June 1998, Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Psion formed Symbian Ltd. in an attempt to keep the smartphone hardware business from becoming a commodity just like the PC hardware business where the majority of profits goes to the operating system developer (Microsoft). The idea is that smartphone manufacturers should be able to easily create their own user experience in order to differentiate themselves from other manufacturers and create added value for their customers.

Google’s Android is an attempt to do the same thing. They tout Android as being open source and highly customizable, however we’ve only seen one device running Android since the Android and Open Handset Alliance was announced in 2007. The leaked news of future Android phones don’t look like anything more impressive than the sole T-Mobile G1 that we’ve already got.

Other smartphone players such as Apple and RIM have developed their own proprietary operating systems to match their proprietary hardware only. This is probably the most difficult route since there’s very little room for change and it becomes very difficult to alter the software to support a wider variety of hardware. If you want an iPhone, you have two options; buy an iPhone or don’t. With RIM, while they do have a more extensive portfolio of products, if you’re deciding whether to buy a Blackberry on ATT or T-Mobile, there’s not much differentiation (maybe the homescreen background image is different).

Windows Mobile, on the other hand, seems to be fully capable of accommodating all of the differentiation needs of both phone manufacturers as well as network operators. There are plenty of examples of devices running Windows Mobile with completely different user experience designs. Take a look at such devices as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, the Samsung Omnia, the T-mobile Shadow, Motorola’s SURF A3100, the Toshiba TG01, Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20, etc. One of the most popular interface customizations is HTC’s Touch FLO 3D; a user interface replacement designed by HTC which is also carrier customizable. That means HTC’s own brand of Windows Mobile custom interface can be further customized by any carrier who chooses to offer the devices to their customers.

So it would seem that Windows Mobile would be the best choice for differentiation if you’re a smartphone manufacturer, a network operator, or even a consumer. There’s no need to re-invent the wheel since Windows Mobile already has more functionality, hardware support, and flexibility than any other smartphone OS… and you can apparently easily alter the user experience in order to add value to your products.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?