The world's top handset maker Nokia Oyj expects the role of the Linux operating system in its product portfolio to increase as the role of its Internet-focused devices grows, company officials said.

The world's top handset maker Nokia Oyj expects the role of the Linux operating system in its product portfolio to increase as the role of its Internet-focused devices grows, company officials said.

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer has promised to produce smartphones that will successfully rival the iPhone. This week, it is expected to release a device with Linux operating system inside in favor of its very own Symbian OS.

According to a newspaper report, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia plans to equip future high-performance phones with the Maemo operating system. The report (German language link) in the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD), says the company is expected to launch its first Maemo smartphone within the next few weeks.

The world's largest handset maker is looking to Linux as the focus moves to mobile web.

Ari Jaaksi, the vice president of Nokia's MeeGo unit, is moving on to other things. His resignation is an unfortunate loss for Nokia, but it's especially troubling at this time when the Finnish phone giant is working to deliver its first MeeGo-based product.

Every operating system is fighting to gain users and marketshare, but is becoming "mainstream" a good goal? While "mainsream" obviously means more users and, thus, usually more revenue for the maker of the OS, it also has some disadvantages. For example, it becomes much harder to break compatibility with older applications in order to move forwards or to change the interface too much.

The MeeGo project was launched earlier this year when Intel and Nokia brought together their respective mobile Linux platforms in a combined effort to reduce fragmentation and offer device vendors a standardized platform. The MeeGo platform is endorsed by the Linux Foundation, which has taken on a stewardship role with the aim of facilitating collaboration around the software.

Symbian is the famous operating system that power up most Nokia mobile handsets. This OS was originally developed by Symbian Ltd. but then Nokia claimed it, next to an independent non-profit organization called Symbian Foundation, and implemented it on its devices.