Nokia has denied that its Symbian operating system is being sidelined, despite the launch of a new high-end smartphone tablet based on Linux.The new Nokia N900 is the first of the company's phones to run on Maemo Linux. Although the company has produced larger Linux-based tablets before, this is the first tablet device to include 3G connectivity.
Nokia says the move to Maemo in its high-end devices doesn't jeopardise Symbian, which the company bought outright only last year. "This is in no way putting Symbian in jeopardy," Anssi Vanjoki, head of sales at Nokia, told Reuters.
"Open-source Symbian is going to be our main platform, and we are expanding and growing it the best we can, both in terms of functionality as well as distribution... populating more and more of our product line with Symbian."
The 3.5in touchscreen device offers "PC-like multitasking" according to Nokia, allowing users to run several apps simultaneously. It also includes Mozilla's 'Fennec' mobile browser, offering full web browsing and support for Adobe Flash.
The device sports a "panoramic homescreen" which can be "personalised with favourite shortcuts, widgets and applications", according to Nokia.
