Intel May Back Off MeeGo Development

The future of the open-source MeeGo OS platform for mobile devices, once a joint effort between Intel and Nokia, continues to look dreary. Nokia has already abandoned ship for Microsoft, leaving Intel the lone parent of MeeGo, which will really need the support of the community now that Intel is reportedly also backing off on development for the platform.

According to a report by DigiTimes, Intel may temporarily discontinue development on MeeGo to focus on hardware products for Android and Windows Phone handsets in 2012. This decision is said to be due to the lack of enthusiasm for MeeGo from handset and PC vendors, with the only exciting device for the platform being the Nokia N9. But even with that handset, distribution is being limited to very select markets to avoid competition with Nokia's upcoming Windows Phone offering.

MeeGo was first launched by Intel and Nokia in March 2010 as a combination of each company's Linux-based OS platforms called Maemo and Moblin. Almost a year after the merge, slow development on the platform may have led Nokia to switch to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform, relegating MeeGo to the R&D playground and setting an expiration date in 2016 for Symbian.