Nokia and Intel have released the pre-alpha MeeGo mobile operating system to developers. The Linux-based merger of Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo is the successor to Symbian. Nokia is betting heavily on MeeGo to keep it the world’s largest handset maker as Apple and Android move up. Nokia hopes to spur development of apps.
Nokia is betting heavily on the MeeGo operating system, which was developed for use in smartphones, tablet devices, and other touch-enabled environments. Intel and Nokia have made the pre-alpha code available for developers to begin building on.
The successor to Symbian hopes to attract platform developers, handset vendors, and operators to contribute to MeeGo 1.1, which is expected to roll out later this year. But can the Linux-based operating system complete in an iPhone-Android world? Nokia is bold enough to think so.
“We believe the trajectory for innovation can be higher for MeeGo than for Android,” Tom Miller, head of MeeGo ecosystem development at Nokia, told listeners at a presentation Relevant Products/Services during Qualcomm’s Uplinq conference in San Diego Wednesday. “Watch this space.”
A Bid for Developers
In an IT Relevant Products/Services marketplace obsessed with consumer gizmos, serious developer news tends to disappear beneath continuing waves of product launches and promotions, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. Yet without developers working and sweating behind the scenes, he added, techno-gimcracks have the inherent value of badly designed doorstops.
“Bottom line: Without the involvement of interested and enthusiastic developers, innovation is DOA,” King said. “So it behooves vendors to make it as easy as possible for developers to be creative, which is where MeeGo comes in.”
The MeeGo concept was birthed about a year ago when Intel and Nokia decided to work together on mobile Relevant Products/Services-computing Relevant Products/Services initiatives. Essentially, MeeGo merges Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo operating environments for use in both Intel Atom and ARM processor-based devices.
King said the effort wasn’t simply a matter of two large vendors paling around — both Intel and Nokia are looking to better position themselves to address burgeoning demand for mobile devices ranging from increasingly powerful smartphones to rapidly evolving tablets.
A MeeGo Must
Nokia has to make a move. Although it’s still officially the world’s largest handset maker, Apple and Android devices are gaining ground. And Research In Motion is right behind Nokia in second place. Nokia hasn’t competed as effectively as RIM, Apple and Android on the apps front.
Intel has its own motivations for launching the project. Namely, it’s lag in mobile development. Intel made up for some lost time with the latest iteration of its Atom processors, which will make their way into mobile handsets later this year. But operating support Relevant Products/Services for Atom processors is slim. King said MeeGo is a good fit for both companies and could help Nokia and Intel gain new or regain lost ground in the mobile marketplace.
So what does the availability of MeeGo Handset Day 1 code mean in all this? Simply that the companies’ collaboration Relevant Products/Services is fully on track and interested developers can get a taste of the new OS in preparation for the planned MeeGo 1.1 launch in the fourth quarter, King said.
“By hitting their milestones and delivering code as planned, Intel and Nokia hope to pique interest, gain cooperation, and inspire enthusiasm among the developers whose efforts will be instrumental to making MeeGo a foregone success,” King added.
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