The only MeeGo device to ever be released, the Nokia N9, has been updated to MeeGo/Harmattan 1.3. Among the improvements are improved performance, updated applications, improved NFC support, improved copy/paste, and more. In other news, the team behind MeeGo and Maemo is now leaving Nokia, probably making this the last update for the N9.
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Member since:2006-05-25
Nokia was going to use Qt in both Meego and Symbian so they were going to create an unified ecosystem ranging from the high-end to the low-end. This would help them to cut development costs dramatically and to attract new developers and convert symbian ones to Meego. It makes more sense than WP+Symbian.
Member since:2005-07-06
But less sense than Android + iOS...
Overall - yes, wishes again ...but you don't address why it should work out in the market landscape, and you even ignore what actually happened - Qt (which I mentioned, really...) _was_ available for some time already on Symbian, the most widespread smartphone platform on the planet at the time, and with a "clear" (then) commitment of expanding the reach of apps to Meego. Yet, somehow, it didn't bring the flurry of dev activity.
Meanwhile, that doesn't seem to be much of an issue "even" for WP - what, 100k+ apps already?
(Symbian is not "low-end" BTW - indeed, perhaps its main problem, dilution of efforts it brings, is how there would be hardly any place left between "top" S40 handsets and entry-level WP ones)
Member since:2005-11-29
Member since:2005-09-01
MS might be bold in pcs but their efforts were at best meager on the mobile devices front.
Their desktop monopoly didn't help, neither did their PDA near monopoly.
Nokia had already bate them in 10 years ago blocking WM world domination with Symbian alliance. Now Google has replaced them in this role.
Edited 2012-07-05 10:22 UTC
Member since:2005-09-01
I can't pose as an objective observer but in my book Maemo 6 truped all those efforts:
1. WebOs - poor hardware, no existing software library , no ecosystem elements (like maps, music), no real IDE, lack of experience in mobile marketing, lack of international sales.
2. Bada - poor user experience, not really scalable, poor SDK
3. BB10 - 1.5 year later.
Nokia had most elements to get it going + carrier relationships + sales + brand + beautiful UI and Hardware + beefy China Mobile partnership that itself would keep it afloat. The OS is scalable both ways (N9 class hw can be dirt cheap nowadays).
I believe it was definitely a the most real danger to MS plans on mobile esp. that now it's evident that WP7 was just an empty shell compared to real oses like IOS, Android and Maemo.
Edited 2012-07-05 10:33 UTC
Member since:2006-05-30
Member since:2008-09-21
I think too and so did lots of the analysts back then. That MeeGo would find a permanent place among the top ecosystems was not a question. The question was only how well it would do against Android and iphone.
I think Microsoft saw the danger that yet another mobile ecosystem that even is compatible with Android to a certain degree, would emerge, land and find its place.
I think it played definitively a role during the negotiations with Nokia. They would not only win a needed WP-partner but would also kill of a competing system the same time. Well, in fact even two competing systems if you assume that Elop also sold the Symbian-kill[1] to Microsoft.
[1] What is auto-included if your partnership means exclusive focus on WP then it also means everything else is gone. Today we are more or less sure that the exclusiveness was part of the deal. That's the only explanation.
Edited 2012-07-05 11:13 UTC
Member since:2005-07-06
Looks pretty much like Maemo... especially since there's more to ecosystem than maps and music (and BTW, Nokia efforts with the latter also faltered, Maemo maps app was neglected, and lack of in-house maps doesn't seem to harm most manufacturers). IDE situation one way or the other didn't seem to make a difference for devs (but BTW, they happily embraced Android even though the development for it was a bit awkward), and Nokia marketing efforts don't seem to work out too well for some time now (despite massive funds)
Bada is also closer analogy than you make it to be (and it doesn't have particularly poor user experience, it's essentially a more basic Touchwiz, which scales all across Samsung's spectrum of devices). But the best...
Yeah, pretty much like with Maemo / Meego, at minimum.
And what does it change WRT its potential market performance? (anyway, Android and WP also go pretty low, even lower, when it comes to hw)
Seriously, this is the kind of magical thinking I point out. The Android and iOS were (and are) a real danger (and that Nokia will go with the former), Meego was hardly on the radar.
You yourself write in the post just above that Android took over.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
So many ~internal OS projects dying or hardly getting off the ground (old & new BB, Symbian - in few variants: MOAP, UIQ, S60, S80, S90 - & Maemo, PalmOS and WebOS, even Bada), some also with "good potential"
...there really doesn't seem to be much place left for such efforts of not-software companies, not with the shared Android all the rage, and also iOS (well, this one's fairly internal, but Apple is a world of their own and with their rules). There is possibly even barely a place for Windows Phone - but, if there's any chance of a major player outside of iOS and Android, that's most likely MS.
Or is that part of the conspiracy? (other than that, yes, there's lots of MS money going to Nokia accounts)
Now, sure, Meego seems very nice (even with cute bonus) - but why would it give them future, why such another dilution of efforts and funds had good potential to succeed as a product in such market landscape?