Reports suggest recent cuts at Nokia have resulted in the abandonment of 'Meltemi' – a new OS designed for use in low-cost mobile handsets.

Heavily rumoured but never officially announced, Meltemi was a Linux-based pitched at so called 'rich feature phones' and budget smartphones.

Sources cited by AllThingsD suggest development on the project has now been halted as Nokia looks to cut back on its outgoings.

Winds of change

Indeed, Meltemi's apparent demise follows news Nokia has lowered its Q2 2012 outlook and plans to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of 2013 in an effort to return to 'profitable growth.'

When asked about the project's status during a recent conference call, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop replied that he had never spoken publicly about a Meltemi project. He did confirm, however, that the company was ending some development projects.

Meltemi wasn't the only initiative Nokia was pursuing to target the lower end of the market, though.

Back in March, Nokia VP Niklas Savander said that the company needed to reach a lower price point with its Windows Phone offerings, claiming the Finnish firm would look to launch handsets running Microsoft's OS for less than €100 in the future.

Savander himself, however, is one of the many executives set to leave Nokia effective 30 June.

[source: AllThingsD]