14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is reportedly getting ready to make some major changes in its N-Series lineup for the future. One of these changes should include the adoption of the Maemo platform for the “top-end” handsets that will be released in the lineup by 2012, and the elimination of Symbian from the company's plans in this area, at least this is what the Maemo marketing team unveiled at a meeting today.
According to a recent post on The Really Mobile Project, the transition from Symbian towards Maemo is expected to be a gradual one, as there are some N-Series devices already in development, and they should arrive with Symbian on board. The Nokia N900, the latest Maemo-based handset from the company, is mainly aimed at enthusiasts, and comes as a “bridge” device, yet the company will also deliver Maemo-based phones that should appeal to the mass-market.
In addition, the Finnish manufacturer is also reported to plan including Maemo in all of its flagship devices by 2012. For the time being, it seems that the company does not have plans to include the Maemo operating system into its X-Series or E-Series handsets, though the enthusiasm with which N900 has been received among users was surprising, and it leaves room for a larger adoption of the platform.
A series of Maemo applications are already available through the ‘Maemo Select’ community portal, which is expected to run alongside Nokia's Ovi Store, which should come to N900 through a software update during the next month. Even so, Ovi Store is expected to become the only software solutions portal from the company, aimed both at Symbian and Maemo handsets.
“Although there has been much speculation about the future of Symbian and Maemo and the relationship between the two - Nokia intends to retain both, producing development tools that will work across the two - this is the first official confirmation I am aware of that Symbian is to be relegated from the symbolic N-Series brand. It’s a bold move by Nokia, but a smart one… Recently Symbian’s greatest strength, it’s legacy and maturity, has begun to look like an Achilles heal as newer platforms have captured consumers’ imaginations with faster development and better user experience. A fresh-start was needed at the top-end and it’s come just in time…,” the post on The Really Mobile Project continues.