Nokia’s bold new Meltemi OS will make feature phones smarter

Not content to let its feature phone software stagnate, Nokia is apparently working on a new low-end mobile operating system called “Meltemi,” which will allow the company to sell more capable phones in emerging markets.

News of the Linux-based Meltemi, which is the Greek word for winds that blow across the Aegean see from the north during summer, was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

For Nokia, Meltemi is a sign that the company … Continue Reading

Son of MeeGo lives! Intel and Samsung team up on open source Linux software

Intel and Samsung are teaming up to create a new open-source operating system based on Linux software. The software will run on multiple kinds of devices under the name Tizen.

The Tizen software will be an amalgam of Intel’s MeeGo mobile operating system and Samsung’s LiMo software. MeeGo was dead in the water after Nokia bailed on the mobile operating system and shifted to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS instead. Samsung will be the new … Continue Reading

Nokia gives up on (weak) North America Symbian business, no N9 either

We’ve known this was coming for a while since Nokia jumped ship to Windows Phone 7, but today the company confirmed that it will be out of the Symbian phone business in North America once its new flagship Windows Phone devices launch this fall, All Things Digital reports.

But really, that’s like saying Nokia has decided to stop stabbing itself in the eye.

The whole point of jumping to Microsoft’s platform was that Nokia would … Continue Reading

Nokia counts down to doomed N9 release on Sept. 23

It’s like a sad countdown to a child’s bottle rocket. Nokia today launched a Swedish site counting down to the release of its new, and most certainly doomed, N9 MeeGo smartphone on September 23.

At the moment, it seems like the countdown is only referring to the N9 launch in Sweden. I’ve asked Nokia to comment on what the countdown means for the N9 elsewhere in the world (in particular the US), and will update … Continue Reading

Nokia’s first Windows Phone leaked, codenamed “Sea Ray” (video)

Sure, Nokia’s new N9 MeeGo phone is pretty, but what I’m really looking forward to is the company’s first Windows Phone 7 device. Now thanks to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (and the company’s lax security), it appears we have our first glimpse.

Nokia showed off the Windows Phone 7 prototype, codenamed “Sea Ray,” to an industry crowd earlier this week. He asked attendees not to take pictures or video of the device, but judging from … Continue Reading

Nokia finally announces its N9 MeeGo phone, but what is it trying to accomplish?

We’re still months away from Nokia’s first official Windows Phone 7 device, but the company had another phone up its sleeve to introduce tonight at its Nokia Connection event in Singapore: the N9, a long-rumored MeeGo-powered smartphone.

The mockups of the N9 are indeed gorgeous (check out the video demo below), but I’m finding it difficult to work up excitement for the device when it’s clearly a side project for Nokia. The company’s main goal … Continue Reading

How Nokia realized the Meego emperor had no clothes

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s bold plan to transform the company from a bumbling has-been to the premiere Windows Phone partner has always seemed like something out a Hollywood thriller — at least, to a gadget geek like me. Businessweek’s latest cover story, which details Elop’s struggle to revamp Nokia, is perhaps the most dramatic telling of that story so far.

One tidbit that has never really been explained is how exactly Nokia realized that MeeGo, … Continue Reading

MeeGo head says LG in its corner for phones (LG: not really)

With Nokia moving to Windows Phone 7 and not looking back, there doesn’t seem to be much hope left for Intel’s MeeGo mobile platform — especially because there still aren’t any phones that use it.

But Valterri Halla, the Intel group member who is spearheading the MeeGo initiative, is convinced that Nokia’s absence will encourage other manufacturers to join in on the MeeGo party.

Speaking at a developer conference on Friday, Halla said that LG … Continue Reading

Can China’s Tencent breath life into Intel’s MeeGo mobile platform?

Intel and China’s mega-popular internet portal service Tencent announced today that they are launching a joint Innovation Center for MeeGo (the open-source mobile operating system pushed by Nokia and Intel that Nokia has since abandoned for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7) in Shanghai. The announcement came at the IDF Beijing 2011 conference and was almost overlooked among the numerous other announcements coming out of the event. But it’s actually a very interesting maneuver.

The partnership between … Continue Reading

Another Symbian blow: Nokia sells off business side of Qt development framework

If you need more proof that Nokia is looking to rid itself of the Symbian mobile operating system, here it is: The company announced today that it will sell parts of its Qt development framework, which was initially billed as a way to easily create apps for Symbian and other platforms, to Digia, a Finnish software company. Digia buys the software licensing and professional service business from Nokia. Nokia will still be in charge of … Continue Reading

Intel looking for new MeeGo partners — good luck with that

Once the love child of Intel and Nokia, the MeeGo mobile operating system may be dead in the water now that Nokia has partnered with Microsoft to use its Windows Phone operating system in its phones.

But Intel isn’t ready to throw in the towel yet. CEO Paul Otellini said in a meeting with analysts this morning that Intel is seeking out new partners for MeeGo, Reuters reports.

Prepare yourself for a long search, Paul.… Continue Reading

Protesting Nokia shareholders give up after facing cold hard reality (update: all a hoax)

Update: Well it turns out the Nokia “Plan B” investors were a hoax all along by one very bored engineer “who really likes his iPhone.” Our hearts go out to all the Nokia fanatics who thought they had investor support.
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Nokia’s new partnership with Microsoft is an exciting, but risky, attempt to rejuvenate an ailing company. So of course, stubborn young Nokia stockholders — who for some reason didn’t see any reason to … Continue Reading

Intel "not blinking" on MeeGo, despite Nokia's abandonment

Even though MeeGo doesn’t appear to be a big part of Nokia’s future now that the company is looking to Windows Phone 7 as its primary operating system, its partner Intel remains committed to the platform.

In a statement released today, Intel said that it is “not blinking on MeeGo”, the Linux-based mobile operating system that it was building together with Nokia. “MeeGo is not just a phone OS, it supports multiple devices. And we’re … Continue Reading

Nokia jumps to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop announced a long-rumored partnership with Microsoft this morning that would make Windows Phone 7 Nokia’s primary mobile platform.

The announcement means the end is near for Nokia’s aging Symbian platform, which many (myself included) have criticized as being too archaic to compete with modern platforms like the iPhone OS or Android. And Nokia’s homegrown next-generation OS, MeeGo, will no longer be the mythical savior for the Finnish company, as it’s now … Continue Reading

Nokia scraps its first MeeGo phone

Nokia has canceled its first MeeGo phone before it even had a chance to launch, according to a report by Reuters, citing two industry sources.

The news, if true, can be read in multiple ways. You could look at it as yet another failure for Nokia, or, more optimistically, you can view it as a wise decision if the company’s first MeeGo device wasn’t living up to its expectations. I choose the latter.

Nokia has … Continue Reading

Nokia CEO prepares troops to jump into the unknown — AKA Microsoft (Updated)

Update: A recent tweet by Google’s Vic Gundotra pretty much rules out an Android/Nokia partnership. Now Nokia has no choice but to partner with Microsoft.
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“We … are standing on a ‘burning platform,’ and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour,” Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop (pictured right) wrote in an infamous memo that’s been making the rounds among news sites today.

The memo, which clocks in at 1,300 … Continue Reading

Nokia recruits Silicon Valley developers, says good things are coming

Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, dedicated a new office building in Silicon Valley today, and its leaders promised that good things are coming soon.

Stephen Elop, the former Microsoft executive who in September was appointed chief executive of Nokia, is planning to make a major announcement during a speech to investors in London on Feb. 11. As its rivals move fast in the growing market for smartphones and tablets, Nokia doesn’t want anyone … Continue Reading

Another Nokia setback: X7 smartphone for AT&T canceled

Things aren’t getting easier for Nokia in America. The company has canceled the launch of its X7 smartphone, which was supposed to be available on AT&T exclusively this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The cancellation comes only a few weeks before the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, where Nokia was planning to unveil the X7. Getting a new phone on AT&T would have been a major score for Nokia. The X7 likely … Continue Reading

We'll say it again: Nokia's keen on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7

Now this sounds familiar. For the past month, Nokia has apparently been in discussions with Microsoft about putting its new Windows Phone 7 software on Nokia hardware, according to an editorial by Eldar Murtazin of the Russian site Mobile-Review.

Murtazin writes that Nokia’s new management — which includes Stephen Elop, former head of Microsoft’s business division and Nokia’s new CEO — has started talks with the software giant to increase their cooperation. Primarily, Nokia seems … Continue Reading