Make your mind up!
Anyone still working on MeeGo must be feeling pretty confused these days. On the eve of MWCV 2011 Nokia announced it was getting into bed with Microsoft, and thus effectively abandoning its joint effort with Intel to make MeeGo its primary smartphone platform.
But today tech blog pocketnow published a teaser video clip which claims to be the upcoming Nokia N9. It had been assumed the N9 would be an evolution of the N8 and E7, running the latest version of Symbian, as there are no NokiaSoft phones expected until next year.
But eagle-eyed readers suggested the device in the teaser is in fact running MeeGo. This was apparently confirmed on the MeeGo Facebook page, on which a link to the video entitled "The promised Nokia N950/ Nokia N9 running MeeGo !" was posted.
The site also responded to comments that the OS looks like a cross between Symbian and MeeGo by saying: "it is not a mix of the Symbian UI. Nokia has strived to maintain a consistent iconset and typeface across it's devices, which makes Symbian anna and Nokia MeeGo UI look similar". In answer to a request for more info, it merely said: "a Nokia MeeGo device will be announced soon."
The timing of this leak is curious too, coming as it does on the same days as the Intel investor day, in which CEO Paul Otellini reportedly said: "In hindsight, Nokia was the wrong partner to have picked".
The video is embedded below, and while it doesn't give too much away, it certainly performs the function of a teaser well. There doesn't seem to be anything official from Nokia about this video, although Engadget reported on an FCC filing a week ago.
A Nokia MeeGo device will certainly attract a lot of attention if launched. While we'll be among the people curious to see what a final MeeGo build is like, we'll probably be more keen to know just what Nokia is playing at launching a MeeGo device having apparently consigned it to the status of long-term project a few months ago, and when it's supposed to be striving to launch its first WP7 device ASAP.
