So Stephen Elop has stated that Symbian mobiles will receive OTA firmware upgrades through to 2016, four years after the final smartphones using this OS are scheduled for release. Good for him.

It beggars belief that some idiots have chosen to knock Nokia, the most mockable of manufacturers, for choosing to provide ongoing support for legacy devices. Clearly these self-styled mobile gurus know nothing of which they speak.

If you truly believe that there is such a thing as a mobile ecosystem it is surely nonsensical to shun the bottom of the pyramid through overly short life-cycle obsolescence.

As I have written previously this issue has become something of a headache for Google and shows no signs of going away as that OS fragments into the legions of low-cost OEM/ODMs crapping out those 400,000 Android devices a day.

This week an all too believable rumour that the forthcoming iOS 5 release will not support the iPhone 3GS has been doing the rounds. The intent is all too clear: you will buy a new iOS device every two years. I’m as much an Apple fanboy as the next guy but forgive me if I don’t see such a policy as being good for consumers.

If Nokia does one thing extremely well it’s firing firmware upgrades that support hundreds of language packs into multiple dealer channels. If you have any sense you should be lauding the decision to prop up Symbian through to 2016.

Image Symbian World