Well, good thing they didn't have to compete with today's mobile OS's back then. Android back then was abjectly terrible. They definitely had a shot at the second spot behind Apple, especially in low-income countries.
Agreed, Android was terrible back then, but you could see the trajectory and it was housed and organised under one roof (back when Google were doing some things right), as opposed to Symbian who just seemed too fragmented to get lift off.
Lol at getting downvoted for this. I was there at the time in the middle of it. Any other view is the view of someone deluded by the fragmented promise of Symbian. It was a system that was managed into a situation of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory. Thrown on the floor. And the stamped out of existence. Everyone involved at the leadership level should be ashamed ... ruined Symbian and dragged Nokia down with it.