Nokia may move to Linux for some of its higher end smartphones, a senior official was quoted as saying in a Reuters article. Nokia VP Ukko Lappalainen was quoted as saying, "In the longer perspective, Linux will become a serious alternative for our high-end phones."

The quotes were attributed to Lappalainen, Nokia markets unit VP, as part of a sideline interview at the "Nokia World" conference being held this week in Barcelona. Lappalainen was said to have stated that instead of using Android or another Linux contender, it would likely use its own Linux-based Maemo platform, which it uses in its Internet Tablets, such as the N810 model pictured above.

As recently as 2006, Nokia was maintaining that embedded Linux was not mature enough for mobile phones, and that it would stick to Symbian. This view seemed to be reinforced by its decision earlier this year to buy the remaining portion of Symbian that it did not already own.

Yet, at the same time, Nokia claimed it would free Symbian as an open source operating system (OS), which would seem to reflect the company's realization that the open-source nature of Linux would give it a competitive advantage. Around the same time, the company also acquired Trolltech, now called Qt Software, which is a major player in the embedded Linux world. Qt Software supports Linux as part a cross-platform Qt technology that could help the company bridge Linux and Symbian OSes.

The Reuters article can be found here.


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