Nokia's decision to dump MeeGo for Windows Phone 7 doesn't mean the Linux-based mobile OS is dead, or does it?
Nokia's decision earlier in the year to stave off extinction by dropping Symbian, its own proprietary smartphone operating system, for Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 OS (after CEO Stephen Elop released a - now immortalised - memo stating that Nokia was standing on a "burning platform" and that serious change was needed) made big news for smartphone industry watchers.
But the move has other implications. MeeGo is an open-source Linux-based smartphone operating system in development as a collaborative effort between Intel and Nokia. Designed to work in devices including smartphones, netbooks, tablets, media players and even TVs and cars, it hit its stable 1.0 release in May last year and is already shipping in some devices. It came a bit late to the party, compared to Google's Android, to gain an early lead in the smartphone market, but Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS came even later.
With MeeGo having been developed in-house at Nokia and with the company searching for a replacement to Symbian, the move to Windows Phone 7 was considered surprising by many. However, it does extend beyond the OS and aims to complement Microsoft and Nokia services (such as Bing for search, and Nokia's application store).
But where does that leave MeeGo? After the announcement to move to Windows Phone 7, Intel released a statement saying it remained committed to the fledgling operating system with Renee James, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's software and services group, stating "Our decision and resolve on MeeGo is only stronger." The company also outlined some of the other supporters of MeeGo, including AMD, Texas Instruments and Novell.
As such, it seems MeeGo development likely won't halt as a result of Nokia's move, but the platform has certainly lost one major vendor's backing (that could have seen it used extensively in smartphones).