The open source Maemo platform, which is used on Nokia's Internet Tablet devices, will soon support Trolltech's Qt development toolkit. Nokia says that the GTK-based Hildon framework will continue to be used as the primary toolkit for Maemo's user interface and core applications, but the Qt libraries will be distributed with Maemo so that third-party Qt developers can bring their applications to the platform.

Nokia is currently in the process of acquiring Trolltech and has some ambitious plans to bring Qt support to a multitude of mobile platforms. Nokia is particularly eager to enable development of applications that can target both Maemo and S60, a proprietary operating system used on Nokia phones.

We talked to Nokia development platform product manager Quim Gil who provided us with more details about this new addition to Maemo. "We want to explore cross-platform possibilities between S60 and maemo and we also want to check the interest in the developer community for Qt in the tablets. GTK+ and Qt coexist in the Linux desktop, let's try the mix in maemo. This is also a way to attract more attention from the KDE community, a sensible move especially if the Trolltech acquisition gets completed," Gim told us in an e-mail.

Nokia is also actively sponsoring an Ubuntu ARM port that will bring the popular Linux distribution to Nokia's Internet Tablet devices. The ARM Ubuntu builds, which are being developed by Ubuntu's Handheld Mojo team, can be tested in QEMU or run from an SD card in an actual Internet Tablet device.