Nokia Says Symbian Development to Continue with Accenture

The world's number-one mobile phone maker Nokia said on Thursday that 2,800 developers working on its Symbian Smartphone platform would move to consulting company Accenture.

"There’s a tremendous amount of work going on around Symbian, with up to ten new Symbian Smartphones planned in the next 12 months alone," company spokesman James Etheridge told Agence France Presse.

Nokia said on Wednesday it had finalized plans to outsource the employees to the U.S.-based global consultancy Accenture as part of massive job cuts announced in April.

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop announced in February the company would phase out Symbian as its Smartphone platform in favor of a partnership with Microsoft, resulting in the loss of 4,000 jobs and the outsourcing of around 3,000 Symbian developers to U.S.-based global firm Accenture.

Nokia said the employees are expected to transfer in October, after which they will continue to develop Symbian software for Nokia through 2016.