LG picks up Meego as Nokia backs away

Emil

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LG Electronics is moving to adopt the Linux-based MeeGo operating system after Nokia largely abandoned it, one of the project's leaders said. Apparently Nokia's dominant role in the project had held back other phone makers from adopting the technology.

"It's opening opportunities for the others to come in. Discussions are taking place. You'll see things coming out this year, pretty soon," Valtteri Halla, a member of the technical steering group of MeeGo, said at a developer conference according to Reuters. LG has joined a working group to develop a handset version of the software. Companies like ZTE and China Mobile are also on board.

LG, the third largest phone maker globally, still hasn't decided whether it will use MeeGo on its smartphones. "At this point in time LG has no definitive plans to mass produce devices with MeeGo other than car infotainment systems," an LG spokesperson said in a statement. Smartphones is where MeeGo really needs help: tablets and netbooks using MeeGo are already available, but the first smartphone running the mobile OS has yet to go on sale.

MeeGo was created last year by the merger of Nokia and Intel's Linux-based platforms. Although Nokia dropped MeeGo and Symbian for Windows Phone earlier this year, we must remember that strategy only applies to smartphones. The company still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product later this year (we think it's their tablet). Furthermore, Intel is still pushing MeeGo despite Nokia's change in strategy.

While the news that LG is interested in MeeGo is definitely positive, it's not quite the same as Nokia pushing the mobile OS it helped build. Frankly, MeeGo has a much harder uphill battle to fight than even Windows Phone or WebOS do.

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On my car infotainment system Meego works very well. So I am definitely excited how it would work on a smartphone from LG. I like LG phones because I think they offer much value for money.
In the near future I will publish a post about LG phones on my blog http://www.cheapconferencecalling.info.
 
It is to bad that Nokia did not cash in on this. They could have stood out from the crowd with the hardware and Meego OS. Now they will just be yet another hardware company offering phones for Windows Phone like so many others.
 
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