Remember MeeGo? No? Well you’re not alone. It was Nokia’s attempt to keep up with iOS and Android, developed in conjunction with Intel, before Nokia jumped in bed with Microsoft and Windows Phone.
Well now it looks like a Finnish startup made up of ex-Nokia employees will be giving it the Frankenstein’s monster treatment, attaching electrodes to its temples and juicing it back to life.
UPDATE: Video is now live. Check it out after the jump!
We love the Parrot AR Drone indoor chopper, which can be controlled via an iPhone, Android or Symbian phone. Add Meego to that list today too: today at Nokia World, scientists at the Nokia Research Centre showed off the app running on a Nokia N9, all in the name of indoor GPS.
Considering Nokia is now backing Windows Phone and only Windows Phone, we must say its staff continue to do a sterling job of supporting the wonderful N9 and its MeeGo OS. Case in point: it’s even crafted a Spotify app for the Nokia N9 in partnership with the Swedish start-up, complete with offline caching and 3G streaming. It looks, as you’d expect, delicious.
The Spotify Nokia N9 app is in the Ovi Store now and free for Premium subscribers, but really, we have to wonder. Where is the Windows Phone app? Spotify says it’s coming – it already supports the older Windows Mobile – but perhaps it could have got Nokia staff to lend a hand with that platform instead.
Though it’ll never see the light of day in the UK, the Nokia N9 began shipping yesterday in a few select countries. It was Nokia’s first smartphone running on MeeGo, an open source OS that merged Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platforms. We now know for sure that it will also be Nokia’s last MeeGo smartphone too: just a few hours later, the Linux Foundation killed MeeGo.
That’s right: MeeGo is dead. All hail Tizen!
Bad news Nokia lovers: the Nokia N9 will not be released in the UK. Nokia released a statement to PaidContent this morning which reads:
“Although we are delighted with the very positive reception that the Nokia N9 has received, here in the UK there are no plans to offer the Nokia N9 at present.”
The announcement comes after the firm pulled the Nokia N9 countdown clock yesterday. While the Nokia N9 was launched in London and previewed to the UK press, Nokia never officially confirmed that the device would get a UK release. It now looks like the next major launch we’ll get a look at will be the first Nokia Windows Phone.
What do you think of Nokia’s decision not to grace the UK with the Nokia N9? Click the headline and tell us in the comments.
Out NA | £NA | Nokia (via PaidContent)
Last week over on Nokia Sweden the company’s first MeeGo flagship, the N9, was featured with a countdown timer leading up to its launch. Today that clock should have read 45 days, but instead Nokia has pulled the timer altogether leading to speculation the N9 may be delayed. Will the Nokia N9 launch in Sweden on September 23rd?
Nokia Sweden has launched a timer which counts down to the impending release of the Nokia N9. In just 49 days, Sweden will become the first country to land the 3.9-inch FWVGA resolution all touchscreen MeeGo smartphone. Undoubtedly a sign that launches will follow shortly in the more than 23 additional countries.
The Nokia N9 was unveiled back in June but Nokia hasn’t got round to announcing an official release date for the Meego mobile yet. That hasn’t stopped Orange Switzerland from listing the Nokia N9 as set to arrive on September 15. Three in Sweden said last month that the Nokia N9 will launch there on September 23.
As well as potentially putting the Nokia N9 on a collision course with the iPhone 5 launch, a September release date means it will arrive in the same quarter as the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 device. The world’s first phone running Windows Phone 7 Mango is due in Japan early next month. Nokia promised its first Windows Phone 7 models will ship in Q4 2011 during its earnings call in May.
With no more than a few months to make its mark, the Nokia N9 could simply end up overshadowed by the coming wave of Windows Phone 7 devices. Click through to see the phone previewed on video and tell us: are you excited by the Nokia N9? Or is it just too late to go with Meego?
