Nokia announced plans to buy Norwegian mobile application developer Trolltech for $153 million. The world’s largest handset developer said that the acquisition would “play an important role in accelerating the implementation of [its] software strategy.”
Trolltech provides cross-platform application frameworks and development tools for mobile phones and PCs. Its platforms are widely used in the open source community; its Qt platform is the basis for the KDE desktop environment for Linux and its mobile Qt platform is used by Motorola for its Linux mobile phones.
According to Nokia, it will acquire all of Trolltech’s software assets and personnel. In a statement, Nokia said that with Trolltech, it and third-party developers will be able to develop applications that work on the Internet, across Nokia’s device portfolio and on PCs.
“From the perspective of Nokia’s push into Internet services via its Ovi initiative, the acquisition of Trolltech makes perfect sense,” said Adam Leach, senior analyst at Ovum. “Nokia has asserted from the start that Ovi will enable services cross a number of platforms including Web, PC and mobile-based platforms. Trolltech have proven technology in cross-platform development and there is a good synergy here for Nokia.”
Kai Öistämö, executive vice president of Devices at Nokia, said in a statement: “Trolltech’s deep understanding of open source software and its strong technology assets will enable both Nokia and others to innovate on our device platforms while reducing time-to-market. This acquisition will also further increase the competitiveness of S60 and Series 40.”
Nokia said it intends to continue to develop Trolltech products and to license its technology under both commercial and open source licenses.
Nokia expects the acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions, including acceptance by shareholders, to close within the second quarter.