Nokia and Intel yesterday unveiled plans for a new operating system to power sophisticated smartphones and netbook computers in an attempt to catch up with Apple and Google.
The new platform, called MeeGo, could enable Nokia to improve its weak position in high-end smartphones, where the world’s largest mobile maker has faced criticism that it lacks a handset to rival Apple’s iPhone.
The platform could also help Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, to finally push its way into the mobile market after several failed initiatives.
MeeGo could also challenge Microsoft, which yesterday tried to strengthen its flagging position in the mobile market by outlining plans for an updated version of its operating system for handsets called Windows Phone 7.
The moves by Nokia, Intel and Microsoft underlined how far Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system for handsets have set the pace in smartphone innovation.
MeeGo will combine Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin, which are both Linux-based operating systems, and the first devices using the new platform are expected in the second half of this year.
Like Android, MeeGo software will be freely available to manufacturers of smartphones and other consumer electronics devices.
Software developers will also be able to use MeeGo on an open source basis, so that they can build applications that run on any devices featuring the operating system.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s chief executive, told the Financial Times that MeeGo would be likely to feature on a broader range of devices than Android, which has just started to be used on netbooks as well as smartphones.
He added: “MeeGo will cover a wide range of devices . . . This will cover more ground than any other approach in this area.”
Mr Kallasvuo denied the creation of MeeGo would kill off Symbian, the company’s longstanding operating system for smartphones, which some analysts believe falls short of Apple’s iPhone OS platform and Google’s Android.
“Symbian is alive and Symbian is strong,” he said.
Paul Otellini, Intel’s chief executive, said the company was planning a renewed push into the smartphone market, where it has lacked power-efficient chipsets to compete with the likes of Arm, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.
Both Mr Kallasvuo and Mr Otellini acknowledged that MeeGo’s ultimate success would partly hinge on the willingness of other mobile phone manufacturers and chipset makers to adopt the operating system, rather than merely Nokia and Intel.
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