In a very interesting move by the Finnish rubber boot-maker turned mobile giant, Nokia has officially announced the acquisition of mobile-OS developer Trolltech ASA. Nokia and Trolltech have entered into an agreement that has been voted on and accepted by the majority of Trolltech shareholders and as such, the deal is done. Strange perhaps that the company currently responsible for the most popular smartphone OS in the world would acquire a mobile Linux developer. Nokia’s claim via press release is that the acquisition will “enable Nokia to accelerate its cross-platform software strategy for mobile devices and desktop applications, and develop its Internet services business.” Becoming an internet company has been a strategy that Nokia has not been shy about in recent history and the Trolltech deal is apparently viewed as a major step in that direction. Trolltech’s technology will help Nokia build applications that work across mobile and PC platforms as well as on the internet. Existing cross-platform layers Web runtime, Flash, Java and Open C are cited as inspiration for their intentions. Despite the fact that Executive VP, Devices Kai Öistämö dropped the W-bomb (“Web 2.0”) in his quote, the goal of furthering innovation and enhancing value-added development through this merger is certainly noble. Despite the management change, Nokia will continue to support and develop Trolltech’s product line including QTopia and Qt-based technology. As an aside, pretty much each and every one of our inside sources at Nokia gave the announcement a resounding “WTF?!?”, especially those in various software development departments. As another aside, we’ve read a few posts purporting that this move means that Nokia may be planning to ditch Symbian in favor of a Linux brand of OS based on Trolltech’s QTopia (hence the mocking image above). Ummm, no.
Nokia to Acquire Linux Mobile OS Developer Trolltech
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 5:56PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
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