Nokia confirmed on Thursday that it plans to use the Linux-based MeeGo operating system instead of Symbian for its N-series smartphones. The move is a sign of Symbian's declining relevance in the high-end market as Linux continues to gain traction. The upcoming Symbian^3-based N8 is said to be the last Symbian handset that Nokia will offer in the N-series.

MeeGo is an open source project that was formed when Intel and Nokia merged their respective Linux mobile operating systems to create a unified platform. MeeGo development is a collaborative effort that is coordinated by the Linux Foundation with the involvement of other companies in the mobile Linux ecosystem. The platform is quite modern and uses Nokia's sophisticated Qt development framework to simplify application development.

Nokia's dependence on the aging Symbian operating system has been a serious weakness in recent years as Android and the iPhone emerged with modern Web-centric features, rich development platforms, and stronger usability. Nokia acquired Symbian, opened the operating system, and transitioned it to a vendor-neutral development model with its own foundation. These steps were taken with the hope of revitalizing the platform and making it more competitive.

The Symbian Foundation has worked hard to address the platform's limitations and has made serious progress, but not enough to make the OS a compelling choice for future high-end smartphones. The Foundation has consequently taken steps to shift its focus to markets where it can succeed and deliver value—particularly the developing world, where there is high demand for low-cost Internet-enabled phones.

Unified development with Qt

Nokia is embracing MeeGo as the platform for its flagship N-series devices, but will continue using Symbian on its mass-market handsets. The unifying force that will make this dual-platform strategy work is the Qt development toolkit, an open source programming framework that Nokia obtained in its acquisition of Trolltech. Qt offers a compelling solution for cross-platform development, with support for building software that will run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Symbian, and MeeGo.

The Nokia Qt SDK 1.0, which provides a complete set of tools for building mobile Qt software, was officially released this week. It includes mobile simulators, a full build toolchain, and an integrated development environment (IDE) that facilitates coding, debugging, and user interface design. As our readers know, we have been keeping a close eye on the SDK and have tested its features in several prereleases.

A key part of the Qt mobile programming ecosystem is the Qt Mobility framework, a set of libraries that supply high-level APIs for interacting with mobile platform functionality. Some of its features include support for handling messaging and contacts, geolocation, and accessing device sensors. In a recent announcement on the MeeGo developer mailing list, Nokia revealed that MeeGo would be the default platform going forward for developing Qt Mobility APIs. This further cements the growing dominance of MeeGo in Nokia's product lineup.

Nokia is gearing up to deliver its first MeeGo-based smartphone, and possibly some tablets. The underlying technology is profoundly impressive, but we still don't know yet if the basic user experience will be competitive with the latest and greatest offerings from Nokia's rivals. We should know soon, though, because the MeeGo project plans to unveil its smartphone environment at the end of the month.