"Developers want to make money, and they will write apps for whichever platform allows them the best opportunity to make money. And right now that's iPhone," Greengart said.

Whether the platform is open source or not doesn't really matter to them, Entner said.

"You'd rather have something that's easy to work with, and reliable, and closed, than something that's open, and it's a pain," he said.

In addition, the change won't affect consumers and developers in North America, Entner said. This is both because Symbian has never gained a strong foothold in the region and because consumers' habit of replacing their phones frequently -- about every 21 months, on average -- will wipe Symbian devices off the market more quickly.

However, Symbian is likely to remain in use longer in developing countries where Nokia has a strong foothold, analysts said.