Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Intel (NSDQ: INTC) unveiled the MeeGo platform today, which is the combination of Intel’s Moblin platform and Nokia’s Maemo operating systems.
Together, the two companies will provide the Linux-based operating system for a variety of devices, including netbooks, mobile phones, connected TVs and in-car systems. The first release of MeeGo is expected in the second quarter of this year with devices launching later in the year. At that point, Moblin and Maemo platforms will dissolve.
MeeGo’s web site is now live at www.meego.com is live today. At the press conference at Mobile World Congress, Nokia and Intel said by teaming up, they are reducing fragmentation in the industry. Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s EVP of devices: “MeeGo will create a shared single platform that will drive mobile computing…We’ll see a whole new class of devices that the mobile industry hasn’t seen.”
The platform will be targeted at everyone in mobile ecosystem, including developers, operators and hardware vendors. They stressed the openness of the platform and that it will not favor hardware companies or architecture (like Nokia or Intel). Running on top of MeeGo, will be Nokia’s Qt application development environment, which developers can use to create apps. Nokia’s Ovi Store and Intel AppUpSM Center will be the application distribution.
The success of the MeeGo platform will rest in the hands of the broad community, spanning from operators to competing hardware makers. One audience member asked why another hardware maker would be interested using MeeGo. Both Intel and Nokia said other hardware makers will be interested because it is open-source and the larger developer base from the two merged communities. Oistamo: “With MeeGo, you get a large developer base. We think other manufacturers will be excited about this—there’s a single large footprint across a lot of devices.”
Is this the end of the line for Symbian: “Absolutely not,” Oistamo insisted.