Nokia and Intel have announced a new strategic partnership for mobile development. This is big news for open source, since both Intel and Nokia rely on Linux (and open source) for their respective mobile platforms.
Intel has Moblin, Nokia has Maemo — both are Linux based mobile operating systems. Now the two efforts will benefit from a co-ordinated joint effort on some key open source mobile applications including : oFono, ConnMan, Mozilla, X.Org, BlueZ, D-BUS, Tracker, GStreamer and PulseAudio.
“Collectively, these technologies will provide an open source standards-based means to deliver a wealth of mobile Internet and communication experiences, with rich graphics and multimedia capabilities,” Intel stated in a press release. “Enabling common technologies across the Moblin and Maemo software environments will help foster the development of compatible applications for these devices, building on the huge number of off the shelf PC compatible applications.”
Additionally Intel is now set to license Nokia’s HSPA/3G modem technologies which will add new mobile connectivity capabilities to Intel’s solutions.
In my opinion, from an open source perspective this new mobile partnership is a good thing.