Intel and Nokia merge their Linux platforms Maemo and Moblin into MeeGo

By Kshitij Sobti | Updated on 15-Feb-2010

15-Feb-2010

As one of the results of the long term relashioship declared about 8 months ago, Intel and Nokia have decided to merge their respective mobile computing platforms Moblin and Maemo to create a unified platform called MeeGo.

“Our vision for seamlessly communicating between computing devices from the home, auto, office or your pocket is taking a big step forward today with the introduction of MeeGo. This is a foundational step in our evolving relationship with Nokia. The merging of these two important assets into an open source platform is critical toward providing a terrific experience across a variety of devices and gaining cross- industry support.”

Paul Otellini, Intel President and CEO

Maemo, the Linux distribution which powers the Nokia N900 device shares quite some goals with Moblin, which too aims to be a Linux platform for the mobile devices of the future. With this merger, the resultant MeeGo platform has an even wider scope from the smartphones, to MIDs to In-vehicle Infotainment devices, to Tablets and Netbooks. MeeGo will be able to target all, making the job much easier for software developers as well.

MeeGo will embrace Nokia’s cross-platform application development framework Qt, which can be used to create applications for anything from the Nokia Symbian S60 devices to Linux, Windows and MacOS X.

So what about Nokia’s new Ovi Store for applications, and Intel’s AppUp store for Intel netbooks running Moblin or Windows? Both will continue to exist, and if you wish to target Nokia phones and devices you can use the Nokia Ovi store; for Intel based netbooks and devices, you have the Intel AppUp centre.

Intel and Nokia’s developer programs, Intel Atom Developer Program, and Nokia Forum will still both be continued, and will be the go-to destination for developer for the respective platforms.

MeeGo will feature “visually rich graphics, multitasking and multimedia capabilities and the best application performance” and will be available in devices from Nokia and other manufacturers from the second half of this year. With the same operating system powering such a broad range of devices, application portability will much simpler. No longer will you be locked onto a platform because of your investment in applications for it.

MeeGo will be hosted by the Linux Foundation, and development on it will be done in an open manner, and Intel and Nokia invite participation from the Maemo and Moblin communities.

[Video] The Big Merge: A Message from Intel and Nokia