MeeGo sees interest from others after Nokia shift

TAMPERE, FINLAND: Mobile handset makers like LG Electronics are moving toward adopting Linux-based MeeGo operating systems after Nokia abandoned it and opened the way for rivals, one of the project's leaders said.

Open-source MeeGo was created last year by the merger of Nokia and Intel's Linux-based platforms, but Nokia pulled back from the project in February when the Finnish firm said it would focus on Microsoft software instead.

Also read: Nokia aborts MeeGo operating system based phones

"It's opening opportunities for the others to come in. Discussions are taking place. You'll see things coming out this year, pretty soon," Valtteri Halla, a member of technical steering group of MeeGo, told a developer conference on Friday.

Halla, who worked for years on Nokia's Linux software and swapped to Intel following Nokia's announcement, said Nokia's dominant role in the project had held back other phone makers from adopting the technology.

Also read: Developers positive about MeeGo

This week LG Electronics joined a working group to develop a handset version of the software, joining companies like ZTE and China Mobile, Halla said.

MeeGo is a newcomer to an already crowded market for mobile operating systems, led by Google's Android.

Nokia has promised to roll out later this year its first and last device running the MeeGo operating system, before changing direction.