This initiative will attract a critical mass of open source software developers to build a consistent, web browser engine as the clearest path to minimize fragmentation in the mobile browser market. With nearly 100 million smartphones deployed worldwide, a common open source solution driving mobile web browser consistency will deliver on the long-awaited promise of full-web browsing and a true web experience for smartphone users around the globe. - Lee Epting, vice president Forum Nokia
Hopefully that happens. We think that it might, not because of the open source initiative, but because the browsers based on the S60webkit (see review here) might be the best (mobile) browsers on the market now and for the forseeable future. Opera Mobile took the early lead, but that was because Nokia's offering of the time was pretty abysmal.
The biggest threat is probably still Opera - with the release of Opera Mini 2.0, which is compatible with almost all java-enabled phones, it seems that fragmentation might be about to come to an end. If, however, S60webkit is ported to java... (although from a technical perspective that seems unlikely; part of the reason Opera Mini works is that it is partially predicated upon thin-client mentality.)
This is the beginning of the mobile browser wars; only now is most of the world beginning to get access to the 3G (and other) wireless broadband technologies which will eventually allow an acceptable (roughly comparable to the desktop) user experience.
