Telecom Lead Europe: Mobile phone major Nokia has sold Qt
software technologies and Qt business to Digia.
Digia is looking at improving its position within the Qt
ecosystem by strengthening Qt’s R&D capabilities and expanding its reach on
many more platforms. Digia plans to enable Qt on Android, iOS and Windows 8
platforms.
Since Digia acquired the Qt Commercial licensing business
from Nokia in March 2011, the operation has grown substantially.
The transaction will see transfer of around 125 Qt people
from Nokia to Digia, mostly based in Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany.
This business transaction will significantly strengthen
Digia’s product business and supports Digia’s strategic objective to grow
internationally.
Digia will work with ecosystem members to secure a
successful release of Qt5 and is committed to continuing the Qt Project in
order to maintain Qt’s availability under both open source and commercial
licenses.
Tommi Laitinen, SVP, International Products, Digia said
now is a good time for everyone to revisit their perception of Qt. Digia’s
targeted R&D investments will bring back focus on Qt’s desktop and embedded
platform support, while widening the support for mobile operating systems.
Sebastian Nystrom, head of Nokia Strategy, said Digia’s
plans to acquire Qt mean that it can continue as a successful open source
project and also offer continuing employment for many people in the community.
Qt has been used by over 450,000 developers and thousands
of leading companies worldwide in over 70 industries to power mission-critical
and renowned applications and UIs.