This is the kind of thing that just bothers me to no end because it tarnishes the overall name and reputation of market research and credible analyst insight.  Bottom line, Mr. Jack Gold says that the two foundations will merge their efforts because they have a similar strategy - that being that they are both open source.  I don't know about you, but I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

If Mr. Gold's theory makes sense, then I'm waiting for his other prediction that in reaction to this "merger", you'll see Apple spin off its iPhone division so that it can merge with Blackberry.  That makes perfect sense right, because Apple and RIM make both the operating system for their devices and the devices themselves right?  Oh ya, and Microsoft will be the odd one out.  Just shoot me.

So seriously, what is Jack Gold smoking?  Who's his dealer (share the love, please).  While yes, Android and Symbian have similar strategies in terms of going open source, Mr. Gold has forgotten that minor detail that the two platforms are COMPLETELY incompatible.  One's based off of Linux while the other uses a proprietary kernel with applications built either in C++ or .NET and C#.  Given that it's been around for 10 years, Symbian has hundreds, if not thousands of applications that have been built for it.  How the hell would all those applications be ported over?

The only correct thing that Mr. Gold says in the piece is that it would help consolidate the market.  That's true, and something I have been advocating for quite some time.  However, there is just no way these two organizations are going to get together.

PS:  Did you hear the one about Intel merging with IBM's processor division?