14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia and Digia, a software powerhouse, have announced an agreement through which Nokia will sell its Qt software technologies and Qt business to Digia.
As soon as the transaction is completed, Digia will become responsible for all the Qt activities that Nokia has been carrying before, including product development and commercial and open source licensing, along with service business.
Additionally, Digia has announced that it has plans to enable Qt on a variety of platforms, including Android, iOS and Windows 8.
Moreover, the company has announced that it aims at further strengthening Qt’s R&D capabilities in an attempt to improve its position within the Qt ecosystem.
Back in March 2011, Digia purchased the Qt Commercial licensing business from Nokia, and reported significant growth in the meantime.
Moreover, the company suggests that the acquisition will have a positive impact on its 2012 revenue. Digia is also confident that the Qt business will grow in the following years.
“As part of the transaction, a maximum of 125 Qt people from Nokia will transfer to Digia, mostly based in Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany. This business transaction will significantly strengthen Digia’s product business and supports Digia's strategic objective to grow internationally,” the company announced.
Digia will continue its investment in Qt to turn it into a leading cross-platform development framework and encourages all ecosystem members to continue their work in bringing improvements to the platform.
“We are looking forward to welcoming the Qt team to Digia. By adding this world class organization to our existing team we plan to build the next generation leading cross-platform development environment,” said Tommi Laitinen, SVP, International Products, Digia.
“Now is a good time for everyone to revisit their perception of Qt. Digia’s targeted R&D investments will bring back focus on Qt’s desktop and embedded platform support, while widening the support for mobile operating systems.”
Over 450,000 developers around the world, along with thousands of leading companies have already used Qt in more than 70 industries for applications and user interfaces.