At Mobile World Congress (MWC) today, Nokia and Intel announced MeeGo, a combination of the Maemo and Moblin platforms. As part of the announcement we were very happy to announce that Qt will be the default application and UI framework.
MeeGo is a software platform that can be used to build a wide range of devices, such as handsets, netbooks, In-Vehicle Infotainment, connected TVs, IP media phones, and more – all segments where Qt has a proven track record. In fact, at Mobile World Congress this week we are demonstrating Qt running on many of these types of devices, including a Samsung digital photoframe, e-book reader, internet radio, in-car infotainment system, navigation devices, HP printer, Asus Netbooks, Skype phones and more.
What does this mean for you? Well, if you are a Qt application developer, it means you will have an even larger market at which you can target your applications. If you are more interested in using Qt to build your next device UI, it means that using Qt within MeeGo will provide you with many of the tools you need, ranging from the UI layer down to the Linux kernel. And while this announcement has Intel as one of the two big backers, it is also open to support additional hardware architectures which are really important to us. Examples where Qt already is running, here at MWC, are TI OMAP4 used for a Qt based contextual web browser demo running on two screens and ST-Ericsson U8500 using the new ARM Mali GPU for a Qt based next generation UX on set top boxes or mobile phones.
To learn more about MeeGo, visit the new site that launched today. If you are new to Qt, you can get started now by downloading the Qt SDK so that you are up to speed when up-coming Nokia phones and consumer electronics devices start hitting the market – all unified in the Qt developer ecosystem. (Download here)
So welcome MeeGo, we are looking forward to seeing you go!
