Nokia today said it is releasing the underlying engine powering its Series 60 mobile browser to the open source community in an effort to kick-start innovation around one of the most maligned applications in mobile.

While mobile browsing was one of the first wireless data applications to emerge in the ‘90s, it has seen relatively little take-up due to its poor performance compared to the wired Web. In fact, many critics point to less-than-stellar browsing experiences over WAP as one of the key reasons mobile data adoption was initially stunted. However, more and more wireless data applications today are dependent upon browsers, whether as a means to access a carrier’s content deck or as way to display information from the Internet on an onboard handset application.

Lee Epting, head of Nokia’s global software development community, said that by releasing the S60 engine to the open source community Nokia can encourage long-needed innovation in the browser space while keeping the browser experience consistent across hundreds of smartphones. The S60 Webkit is available to anyone with anyone with an open source BSD license, a highly permissive license commonly used by free software developers worldwide. The kit comes with the source code of latest generation S60 browser engine, which itself was based on Apple’s Safari browser, but not the S60 browser interface or other peripheral applications Nokia uses in its own smartphones. Basically, Epting said, developers can use the core code to create their own customized browser, allowing them to differentiate their browsers from Nokia and other developers while still sharing the same consistent underlying technology.

“If we can get to a point where we have one primary engine that runs all browsers, that’s what we’re aiming for,” Epting said--even if it means giving it away. The advantage works both ways though, she added. If a developer comes up with something particularly innovative that could benefit the browsing experience on all smartphones, Nokia can incorporate it into the standard S60 browser kit, making it a universal component, Epting said.

While there is a huge open source community that drives innovation in the PC world, making its browser open source won’t necessarily guarantee the consistency Nokia is seeking. Nokia’s assumption is that smartphone vendors and developers will embrace its technology, but while the browser itself comes with a free license the middleware and user interface it is built on Series 60 does not. Series 60 is built on the Symbian operating system, which many handset vendors have embraced, but rather than license Series 60 from their competitor Nokia, many vendors have opted to build their own user interface and middleware or go with an alternate developer’s software. So far, the majority of Series 60 devices have come from Nokia itself.