Nokia picks Nystrom as new MeeGo head

Nokia's MeeGo marketing lead said on Tuesday that the company had already picked a new head for the MeeGo team. Sebastian Nyström will jump from the top spot on the Qt team to head up the mobile OS. He replaces Alberto Torres, who left immediately after the Windows Phone 7 shakeup.

As part of his position, he reiterated promises that Nokia would have a device unveiled in 2011 and gave a brief clue as to its design. Unlike the hacker-focused N800, the future model would appeal to the "style-conscious, connected enthusiast," Nyström said. Although rumors have swirled of a cancellation, most believe this will be the N9 or N950, a QWERTY tilt slider much like the E7. It may alternately be a tablet and the first real sequel to the N810.

Nokia would also keep delivering updates after the future hardware shipped and would help map out Nokia's future involvement with the MeeGo project's site.

Fears had surfaced among adopters that Nokia was consciously abandoning MeeGo with the plans for Windows Phone. The new strategy has relegated the OS to a more experimental role similar to Maemo, but the new head hinted that the device would be more mainstream and potentially more relevant.

By Electronista Staff