the prestige —

MeeGo, reloaded: new smartphone OS set to be unveiled next month

Scrappy ex-Nokia employees aim to turn an ex-Nokia OS into a contender.

The spectre of a new MeeGo phone is beginning to take solid form: a startup resurrecting the OS has received €200 million ($258 million) in funding and its flagship phone is set to be unveiled next month, according to the Wall Street Journal. Companies funding the venture include at least one telecom and a chipset manufacturer, as well as other parties concerned about "recent developments in the smartphone industry" such as the ongoing patent wars.

The Finnish startup, named Jolla Ltd., was formed by a group of Nokia expats in July 2012. MeeGo was originally a castoff from Nokia, and only ever appeared on one phone, the Nokia N9. The new MeeGo-based operating system is codenamed "Sailfish."

Jolla remains tight-lipped about the details of the operating system and what will change, though the company indicated to the WSJ that the OS will be operable on increasingly popular low-end devices that are taking off in emerging mobile markets, such as parts of Africa and India.

The startup will unveil a new phone next month that is likely to be a concept device. Sailfish won't be ready for licensing by device manufacturers until spring 2013.

Channel Ars Technica