Nokia pro- or anti-Linux on cellphones? Both, my dear Watson
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Nokia, through Jarkko Sairanen, head of corporate strategy, gave a hard time to Linux on cellphones. “Linux has not reached maturity as a mobile phone OS.”
At first read, the message is a kind torpedo launched towards its competitors, Motorola, Vodafone, Samsung, NTT DoCoMo, NEC or Panasonic, the big names that hooked up together in last June to create a co-joint development center. Something like: You could buzz on Linux keyword, but you will spend big money to get what you want.
But in the same time, through Nokia’s executive vice president and CTO Tero Ojanperä’s voice, the company is telling the opposite. That Linux on cellphone has been “early” embraced. Its N770 Internet tablet, which is running on a Debian Linux-based platform, has been so far a popular success. And the N770 could be considered as the symbol of Nokia strategy for the coming year, bringing out some mobile computers, able to do multimedia tasks and take advantage of voice over WLAN technologies.
Linux si, Linux no? Nokia is divided between the two orientation, because of this good point: Communities of developers aren’t that united, are following many directions that hamper the emergence of a strong OS.
But Nokia should promote Linux a lot more than it does. Unveiling more tools for its Internet tablet and tout the device as a playground for developers. Trolltech start doing this with its Greenphone. There may be something to do in this direction.
Oct 6, 2006 | By Nuno
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