Nokia Sells Off Their Remaining Portions Of QT Software
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Nokia may be slipping further behind in the great smartphone race, which is entirely dominated by Android and iOS, but they’ve yet to give up.
In a presumed effort to remain in the race to the top, Nokia will be selling their Qt software business to their Finnish neighbors, Digia. Qt’s new owners have said they will continue the development of the software, but they will implement a new tool kit, focusing on bringing it to multiple platforms, particularly those two leaders at the top: Android and iOS.
“Following the acquisition Digia becomes responsible for all the Qt activities formerly carried out by Nokia,” says a statement about the acquisition on Digia.com.
“These include product development, as well as the commercial and open source licensing and service business. Following the acquisition, Digia plans to quickly enable Qt on Android, iOS and Windows 8 platforms.”
Digia had purchased the commercial sector of Qt from Nokia in March 2011. This acquisition moves over the remaining Qt elements from Nokia, both the software technologies and business focused side of the software.
Neither Digia nor Nokia mentioned any financial terms of the deal, but Reuters seems to think Digia got the better end, saying they paid a “fraction” of what Nokia paid ($150 million) when they acquired Qt back in 2008.
The Qt framework is used by nearly half a million developers all over the world to create cross-platform applications for a myriad of industries, such as aerospace and the medical industry. Currently, developers can use the Qt framework to write applications for both MeeGo (a relative newcomer to the mobile device OS game) and Symbian, Nokia’s very own smartphone OS.
“We are looking forward to welcoming the Qt team to Digia. By adding this world class organization to our existing team we plan to build the next generation leading cross-platform development environment,” said Tommi Laitinen, Digia’s International Products SVP, in the press statement. “Now is a good time for everyone to revisit their perception of Qt. Digia’s targeted R&D investments will bring back focus on Qt’s desktop and embedded platform support, while widening the support for mobile operating systems.”
Now, as Digia takes on all parts of the Qt business, 125 members of Nokia’s Qt team will be moving offices to join the rest of the Digia team. The new owners have also said they want to start bringing the Qt framework to a broader network of contributors, furthering the overall development of the software. Digia has also said an upcoming release of Qt 5 will be released on schedule, despite this acquisition, good news for developers who depend on the framework.
Nokia has seen some hard times in recent years, and have made some difficult choices in order to stay afloat.
First they announced a partnership with Windows phone, a move which should work to increase their market share in the States and elsewhere.
Last April, Nokia announced they were laying off 4,000 employees in an effort to cut up to one billion euros in operating costs. They then sold off 450 of their patents to make some cash this January, then announced another round of layoffs, this time to the tune of 10,000 employees, in June.
In other Nokia news, mobile tech firm Vringo has said today they hope to sell $31.2 million worth of their stock in order to buy some 500 Nokia patents, a sale expected to net the Finnish smartphone maker at least $22 million.
Looks like they’re trimming the fat and running it lean in Espoo these days….
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2012-08-10 05:20:46
Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112673061/nokia-sells-software-080912/
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