AT&T Mobility said that it is hoping to consolidate the diverse number of smartphone platforms, such as Windows Mobile, Symbian, and others, to a single platform on AT&T-branded smartphones within the next few years. The move is intended to help reduce number of systems its support personnel will need to understand, as well as help it focus on application development for a single platform rather than many. The AT&T representative who made the remarks suggested that Symbian is the best candidate to be its smartphone platform of choice. The consolidation does not mean AT&T would get rid of the iPhone, which it considers to be a third-party platform that is supported by Apple. AT&T hopes to complete the platform consolidation by 2014.