Jul. 18, 2009 (United Press International) -- Nokia (NYSE:NOK) has agreed to sell the professional services unit of its Symbian mobile phone operating system to the U.S. consulting firm Accenture (NYSE:ACN) , officials say.

The move, announced by Accenture Friday, is seen by industry analysts as a further step by the Finnish handset maker to distance itself from Symbian and establish it as a stand-alone software firm, Information Week reported.

After purchasing Symbian for $410 million, Nokia moved to spin it off into an independent foundation where it says it can further develop its open source, royalty-free mobile phone operating system, which faces competition from Apple's iPhone, Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry, Information Week said.

"The acquisition of the Symbian professional services unit will enhance Accenture's existing embedded software, product-development and testing skills to help players in the mobile solutions ecosystem address ever-more-demanding time-to-market and quality requirements," said Jean Laurent Poitou, managing director of Accenture's electronics and high-tech industry group, said in a statement.