MeeGo Q&A with Valtteri Halla – All MeeGo devices can use AppUp & Ovi Store; Future Synergy with Android; Linux to dominate Symbian

FierceDeveloper’s Mike Dano had an exclusive interview with Director for MeeGo, Valtteri Halla.

Some very interesting keypoints:

MeeGo vs Symbian: MeeGo geared for high end, beyond handsets.

• Companies can mix and match what they want in MeeGo – Nokia will have their proprietary applications suite.
• Nokia are positioning MeeGo as an Alternative to Android
• Nokia are NOT worried about fragmentation as Qt will mean apps for Symbian will be available for MeeGo and vice versa. Similarly any apps from any platform made on Qt will be compatible. Android, WebOS, Windows – as long as Qt is involved.
• Intel AppUp is the universal MeeGo store. Each company may have their separate store. Nokia have Ovi Store. Halla says any MeeGo device can use any of these (Ovi Store or AppUp).
• MeeGo is for consumer market first but will have great opportunity too for business
• MeeGo is VERY carrier/network friendly. Apple’s App Store is not friendly to operators and Android Market more focused on running Google services. MeeGo provides more choice.
• Nokia see three players in OS viable for operators: Android, Apple iOS and MeeGo  (not  WebOS, WP7, Bada or even Symbian)
• In next 2-3 years MeeGo apps shipping hundreds of thousands of applications. Some specific to device category, some general to all categories.
• Basic group of 10 or more device manufacturers shipping MeeGo into HANDSETS (similar groups in other areas)
• Nokia sees Linux taking over the smartphone (over Symbian) – and high end market  which Linux? Their MeeGo?
• There will be a certain cooperation and convergence between Android and MeeGo, sharing commonalities and compliances over time to drive their synergy with Linux at the high end.

via FierceDeveloper

Tags: AppUp, Intel, MeeGo, Nokia, Nseries, Ovi Store

Category: Linux, MeeGo, Nokia