Sharpened handsets at dawn.

Looks like Google have a serious competitor to Android. Symbian, Series 60, UIQ and MOAP platforms are to be merged into an open-sourced platform to rival to Android. Heading up this charge into the heart of Google-land is Nokia who are preparing to buy up the remaining Symbian shares that it does not already own.

The Symbian foundation is planning to Open Source selected components at the launch of the new initiative. Over the coming two years the entire platform will become Open Source. There’s a bonus here for current Symbian license holders: no more fees.

Sony Ericsson and Motorola will contribute the UIQ platform, and NTT DoCoMo will contribute its MOAP platform.

Other companies joining this initiative include AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone.

Forget the browsers wars (we know Firefox will win that one), things look set to get really hot in the mobile sector.

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