A group of former Nokia employees who reportedly worked on the MeeGo powered Nokia N9 smartphone, have formed their own startup named Jolla Ltd, which will make MeeGo powered smartphones.
MeeGo is a Linux-based smartphone operating system which was commissioned by both Intel and Nokia.
The only smartphone it has run on so far is the Nokia N9. After Nokia dropped MeeGo in favour of the Windows Phone OS it seems that former Nokia employees that have formed Jolla Ltd see more potential in MeeGo.
A statement by Jolla tells how ex-directors and professionals from Nokia’s MeeGo N9 organisation, along with other professionals who have worked on MeeGo, have formed the company.
In a tweet, the company also announced that new MeeGo smartphones would be created together with its industrial and investor partners alongside the MeeGo community’s support.”
Marc Dillon, the Chief Operating Officer, will lead the newly launched Finnish startup. He was with Nokia for close to 11 years.
Dillon was the Nokia’s Principal Engineer for MeeGo (formerly Maemo) from January 2006 until he left the company in May of this year.
In a statement, Jolla said: “Nokia created something wonderful – the world’s best smartphone product. It deserves to be continued, and we will do that together with all the bright and gifted people contributing to the MeeGo success story.
“Together with international investors and partners, Jolla Ltd. will design, develop and sell new MeeGo based smartphones. The Jolla team consists of a substantial number of MeeGo’s core engineers and directors, and is aggressively hiring the top MeeGo talent to contribute to the next generation smartphone production.”
