Here’s an interesting twist in the smartphone race.
What happens when a brand new smartphone operating system is fully built and ready for large-scale deployment but ends up being left for dead?
If you ask a certain group of former Nokia employees, the answer is that you take it upon yourself to bring the OS back to life. That’s exactly what Finnish startup Jolla is looking to do.
The company, which is made up of ex-Nokia personnel, is planning to develop a bunch of new phones built in the Meego platform. Meego, you may recall, was supposed to be Nokia’s answer to the explosion of Android and iPhone popularity.
It was to be Nokia’s last shot to stay relevant in the changing mobile phone market. But just as it finished putting all the bells and whistles together, it ended up partnering with Microsoft and Windows Phone instead.
At the head of the new company is one Marc Dillon, who as you might expect was an integral part of the Meego team. Dillon was Nokia’s chief operating officer and was the principal engineer for the now-defunct mobile OS.
“Nokia created something wonderful – the world’s best smartphone product. It deserves to be continued, and we will do that together with all the bright and gifted people contributing to the MeeGo success story,” Jolla said in a statement.
Nokia has previously said it could bring the software platform to other devices like in-car entertainment systems, where there is far less competition.
