MeeGo: Nokia and Intel’s fused OS
By Dean • Feb 16th, 2010 • Category: Nokia- Photo: Nokia
In what must be a most historic day in mobile technology news – at least in terms of announcements – mobile phone giant Nokia and processing superpower Intel have announced they’ve merged their Maemo and Moblin operating systems into MeeGo, a platform Nokia will make available for itself and other handset manufacturers.
Symbian still important say Nokia
- Photo: Intel
Quick to point out this doesn’t spell the end for the recently open-sourced Symbian, Nokia announced it expects MeeGo and Symbian to co-exist. Notwithstanding the fact that this is yet another operating system in a market Microsoft may have turned on its head, Nokia and Intel believe they are a worthy competitor in the mobile OS space.
Nokia embracing open source
MeeGo is further indication that Nokia is availing itself to the open source community. Moblin, after all, was a version of Linux on devices sporting Intel’s Atom Processor.
Where MeeGo could score a major victory is in interconnecting multiple devices. Since MeeGo is a hybrid operating system and processing platform, it isn’t inconceivable that netbooks, smartphones and even televisions with built-in processors could talk to each other over this one platform, making greater interconnectivity a reality.
Crowded market place
- Photo: Android
The mobile OS smartphones market swelled from just two viable competitors – Android and iPhone OS – to four in a single day. Whereas Microsoft showed what they have been working on, Nokia and Intel merely announced their intentions. Additionally, with handset manufacturers making commitments to certain platforms and forming partnerships with specific mobile OS developers, it appears MeeGo will be fighting for the leftovers of Nokia’s staple of phones.
What is clear, however, is that manufacturers and developers alike realise that the next major boom in the mobile space is in the software that powers these devices and, to Intel and Nokia’s credit, they’ve responded proactively.
Tags for this article: MeeGo, mobile OS, smartphones
