Though Nokia has officially denied any immediate drop of Symbian in favour of a quick land grab on Windows Phone 7, the Finnish firm's decision to adopt Microsoft's OS continues to have ramifications across its entire business.

 

Predictably, its plans for Symbian and MeeGo have been hit hardest, with the sell off of the firm's Qt commercial licensing and services arm already being pitched as a final nail in each format's respective coffin.

Not so Qt anymore

That's because Nokia was to utilise Qt to aid software development on both platforms. The company's longterm shift to WP7 - which doesn't use Qt - means retaining control over its Qt business is no longer essential.

"Qt continues to be an important technology for Nokia and it is critical that Qt's growth and success can continue," said Nokia's VP and head of MeeGo, Qt and Webkit, Sebastian Nyström.

"While Nokia will continue to invest in developing Qt as a cross-platform framework for mobile, desktop and embedded segments, focusing on open source development and expansion, we wanted a partner who can drive the commercial licensing and services business around Qt."

Said partner is Digia, which specialises in user experience services and products for mobile. However, while Nokia is relinquishing control of its operations, it isn't dropping support for Qt altogether.

Hanging in there

"We want to emphasise our long-term commitment to Qt," added Nyström.

"Nokia will drive Qt developments in support of our business needs and our investments in community building, marketing and R&D will continue to benefit all members of the Qt community.

As part of the agreement, some members of Nokia's Qt tem - both covering technical consulting services and commercial sales and marketing - will make the leap to Digia to ensure the transition is a smooth one for firms dealing with Qt.

 

"Those teams will continue to be based in Norway and in the US and we will work with Digia to minimise disruption to customers throughout the transition period," he concluded.

[source: Nokia/Digia]