Ex-Nokia employees start company to produce MeeGo smartphones?
This is certainly interesting if it turns out to be true: just a few days ago we reported that the MeeGo team at Nokia had left the company, thus ending development on the platform. While the facts are true, perhaps we were all a but quick to proclaim the death of Meego, as earlier today The Verge discovered a Twitter post and a Linkedin company listing (the latter has since been deleted) indicating that a group of ex-Nokia employees has formed Jolla Mobile, a startup that aims to save the MeeGo expertise that Nokia developed in producing the N9.
The Tweet (which is still visible) said:
According to The Verge, the Linkedin company page listed Marc Dillon as Jolla’s CEO, an eleven year Nokia veteran and the lead engineer of Maemo/MeeGo development. The Linkedin site was quoted as saying:
This would be fascinating if true, although it won't be easy - any startup in the mobile space would have to find a way to protect them from the ongoing patent wars, and expense that could easily drive smaller players from the market. Still, we were impressed with the N9, and would certainly be interested to see what that team could create given the time and resources to continue development.
If it is true, we should hear more about Jolla in the coming weeks. Would you be excited about a new set of MeeGo phones?
sources: Twitter, The Verge
"New #MeeGo smartphones will be created together with our industrial and investor partners and with support of the MeeGo community."
According to The Verge, the Linkedin company page listed Marc Dillon as Jolla’s CEO, an eleven year Nokia veteran and the lead engineer of Maemo/MeeGo development. The Linkedin site was quoted as saying:
"Nokia created something wonderful – the world’s best smartphone product. It deserves to be continued, and we will do that together with all the bright and gifted people contributing to the MeeGo success story.
Together with international investors and partners, Jolla Ltd. will design, develop and sell new MeeGo based smartphones. The Jolla team consists of a substantial number of MeeGo’s core engineers and directors, and is aggressively hiring the top MeeGo talent to contribute to the next generation smartphone production."
This would be fascinating if true, although it won't be easy - any startup in the mobile space would have to find a way to protect them from the ongoing patent wars, and expense that could easily drive smaller players from the market. Still, we were impressed with the N9, and would certainly be interested to see what that team could create given the time and resources to continue development.
sources: Twitter, The Verge
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: