Korea's Samsung Electronics took a 5 percent stake in mobile smartphone software maker Symbian, following up on the licensing deal that it signed with the London-based company last October.

Symbian has been busy forging alliances and establishing itself as an alternative to Microsoft's (Quote, Company Info) wireless-based Windows smartphones. The company also has sold stakes to Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Motorola and Matsushita. Psion is also a shareholder.

Samsung will pay about $27 million for a share of Symbian, which was spun off from Psion in 1998. Samsung already is planning its first Symbian OS product, a global data-enabled phone using the Series 60 user interface, which Samsung licensed from Nokia.

The deal was announced in Cannes, France at the 3GSM Congress, a gathering for the worldwide wireless industry. At the same meeting, Microsoft announced that Germany's T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, will buy handsets made by Taiwan contract manufacturer High Tech Computer. T-Mobile said it will add its own services on the device, which will carry all standard Microsoft features such as email, messaging, picture taking and a calendar.

Still, Symbian OS licensees account for more than 80 percent of worldwide mobile phone sales, according to recent Gartner Dataquest estimates.