Nokia to just use Maemo on one phone in 2010?
updated 03:35 pm EST, Mon November 30, 2009
Nokia may be stuck on S60 next year
Despite calls to upgrade quickly, Nokia is going to add just one phone based on its Maemo OS next year, a source said today. A tip to Reuters claims the N900 will get just a single companion model and that the rest of the lineup will continue to use some form of Symbian. The reason behind the supposed decision isn't evident.
When questioned on the subject, Nokia said it was "fully committed" to Symbian on its smartphones, though it has also commented that it would switch to Maemo for its Nseries smartphones in three years.
The plan, if true, is potentially damaging to Nokia's prospects for smartphones next year. Critics have commented that Symbian in its current state is poorly suited to modern smartphones as it has a complex interface that wasn't originally designed for touch or intensive multitasking. Maemo is based on a more advanced Linux base built for touch, with a more advanced web browser and multitasking that can handle many simultaneous apps.
Symbian should undergo major revisions in 2010 but may have contributed to Nokia losing market share to Apple, whose iPhone is built for touch, as well as to RIM's more corporate-friendly BlackBerries.
