Nokia, a company who seem stuck in a continuous state of change currently, have announced that they will still be supporting their Symbian operating system in the near future. Symbian has been the only operating system Nokia have used in the last few years, to mixed success.

Symbian did have the largest market share of all operating systems in 2010 but this was mainly due to the fact that Nokia shift entry level smartphones by the bucket load. Android is set to overtake Symbian as the biggest selling platform in the world any day now and with Nokia announcing recently that Windows 7 phone will soon become their main OS, tales of Symbian’s demise have been rife in technology circles.

Nokia have been quick to squash these rumours though and insist that the OS has a bright future with the Finnish mobile manufacturer, despite the imminent partnership with Microsoft.

Director of Marketing for Nokia in the UK and Ireland John Nicholls stated: “When the switch to Microsoft Windows Phone was announced in February it raised a lot of excitement and it is massively important for our future, but everybody saw that and only that. We would like people to see the move as a transition from Symbian to Windows Phone, rather than a full stop.”

This comes as reports of retail outlets recommending not buying Symbian phones continue to grow. There are some very good phones running on Symbian, including the Nokia N8, which has probably the best camera on any mobile phone at the moment.

There was a worry that if people purchased these phones that they would not be able to upgrade them by the end of the year. Nokia have moved to reassure customers that this is not the case and that they have some improvements for current Symbian versions up their sleeve.