Nokia Acquires Trolltech

Whoa, this is news! Nokia announced that they have agreed to acquire Trolltech ASA, the Oslo-based company behind Qt technology as well as the Qtopia Greenphone. Citing that Trolltech's "talented team will play an important role in accelerating the implementation of Nokia's software strategy," Nokia will offer Norwegian Krone (NOK) 16, or about US $2.93, per share in cash. Boardmembers and Trolltech shareholders have undertaken to accept the offer.

Nokia is aiming to boost its cross-platform layers such as the Web runtime, Flash, Java and Open C. Trolltech products will continue to receive support. Qtopia has made its appearance in mobile handsets, video phones, set-top boxes as well as media players, while Qt is in use in Skype, Google Earth and Adobe Photoshop Elements.

This is an interesting move from Nokia. We'll have to wait and see if there is going to be an impact on the Symbian ecosystem, of which Nokia holds a 47.9% share.