Norwegian company Trolltech, who develops the Qt platform-independent C++ framework used, for example, as a basis for KDE Unix/Linux desktops, as well as the Qtopia Linux application platform for mobile devices, has changed hands: Finnish world market leader for mobile phones Nokia, who recently made the headlines in Germany because of the controversial closure of its mobile phone factory in Bochum, is taking over the software vendor. Nokia is paying 105 million euros or 16 Norwegian kroner (1.98 euros) per share for Trolltech, who has also already developed the Greenphone reference platform for Linux Smartphones. Trolltech's management has already accepted the offer; Nokia is said to already have secured about 66.43 percent of Trolltech's shares. Trolltech's board of directors has made a recommendation to the rest of the share holders to accept Nokia's offer.
For some time, Nokia has worked towards becoming more independent of mobile hardware sales and generate revenue from applications for mobile devices by offering applications, internet solutions and, for example, music services for mobile devices. Therefore, Nokia announced that by acquiring Trolltech it intended to reinforce its own platform-independent software strategy both for mobile devices and for desktop applications. Developers were to be able to create applications which work identically both as web applications and on local Nokia devices as well as PCs. Nokia also intended to focus on areas where it could stand out from its competitors. Platform-independent software based on Nokia's software platforms encouraged innovation and enabled Web 2.0 technology for mobile devices, Nokia announced.
Nokia intends to continue to offer and develop Trolltech products. Trolltech technology would also continue to be offered both commercially and covered by Open Source licenses. Only recently, Trolltech announced that it would also license the Qt framework under GPLv3, and several other Open Source licenses are available for Qt and Qtopia. Nokia in turn became a member of the Linux Foundation - an organisation promoting the use of Linux and Open source founded by Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and the Free Standards Group - last April. The source code of Nokia's mobile browser engine, for example, was already published under BSD license in mid 2006
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