An Early Glimpse of the Future of Nokia's Maemo Platform

New information and a screenshot has recently leaked showing a possible future direction for Nokia's Maemo operating system.

The current version of Maemo (OS2008/Diablo) will be supplanted later this year with Maemo 5 -- code-named Freemantle. However, the information leaked points to the iteration after Maemo 5 code-named Harmattan.

Heavy Emphasis on Homescreen Widgets
Nokia has been pushing the idea of Web Run-Time (WRT) widgets for some time, and it seems that this will move into high gear with the release of Maemo Harmattan. According to the leaked information, the homescreen will be a large, vertically-scrolling screen upon which users will be able to add several widgets. Many of these will take up the entire width of the screen, and all widgets will have access to APIs and hardware within the mobile device.

Much like with the upcoming Nokia N97, the widgets will be able to be stacked on top of each other; offering the ability to customize a screen to a user's choosing.

According to the Maemo Roadmap, Harmattan devices would be using a full implementation of the Qt software stack for the user interface. This software stack is already being used to build components and applications for the upcoming Maemo 5. Highlighted in this use is the idea of creating widgets with WRT and Qt.

Context Aware and Ad-Supported
The leaked information also speaks of these widgets being context/location-based. Meaning that they would not only respond to new email/IM/SMS messages, but also would have the ability to respond to location and events.

This type of sensitivity to context makes another leaked point stand out -- the introduction of ad widgets. These  would not be removable and could be used to subsidize the cost of the mobile device.

A Move Away from MIDs toward Phones
The rumor also states that Maemo Harmattan will be heavily used on mobile phones. This would indicate that Nokia will be capitalizing on this week's announcement of the development and pushing of the ofono open source telephone stack.

Because of this phone focus, the information leaked which speaks to carriers having the ability to customize and even lock down the homescreen seems reasonable. Using the ad widgets, a carrier would essentially be able to guarantee that their on-deck content would always be displayed, making initiatives such as carrier application stores a more likely proposition for Maemo adoption.

When Would Maemo Harmattan Devices Show
The leaked information says that Maemo Harmattan devices have a tentative release during the fourth quarter of next year or the first quarter of 2011. This would put it about a year after the release of Maemo 5.

More about Maemo Linux
Maemo Linux is an ARM-tuned version of the Linux operating system used by Nokia for its lineup of Internet Tablet devices. Currently found in the N800, N810, and N810 WiMax Edition devices, Currently at Maemo 4, it is in the process of being updated to a new iteration.

Maemo 5 will power a new generation of Nokia's Internet Tablets, and will not be compatible with the older hardware of the N800 and N810 devices. However, it will support newer hardware features such as OMAP 3 mobile processors, HSPA data connectivity, high-definition camera support for still and video, and hardware-based graphics acceleration.

Via: Mobile Crunch