Nokia and Intel held a joint press conference this morning, announcing a partnership to create a brand new operating system, killing off Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin in the process. Instead, the new MeeGo operating system is completely open source, and will work across many devices, not just Nokia’s mobile phones and Internet Tablets, or low-power Intel netbooks.
MeeGo completely replaces Maemo, although developers will be hand-held through the process of porting their applications to the new system. Nokia’s QT development system already lets developers create applications for Symbian and Maemo at the same time, and now MeeGo will be added into the mix too. For Intel’s part, its making sure moblin apps are forward compatible with the new MeeGo OS.
Excitingly, the two firms say MeeGo will appear on a range of devices, from phones all the way up to full laptops, tablets and even connected TVs and in-car navigation.
Speaking at the announcement, Kai Oistamo explained that “Maemo will merge into MeeGo with no delays” and outlined several benefits, such as MeeGo users being able to port their apps whenever they buy a new device. “We’re not operating a walled garden,” Oistamo said. Take that Apple.
We’ll have more on MeeGo in the coming days. This is just the start, and Nokia and Intel have yet to show a single screenshot. For more detailed information though, check out MeeGo.com – it went live today.
TBC | £TBC | MeeGo
