N900 dual-boot MeeGo option coming for developers

Developers using the Nokia N900 will soon have the option of dual booting into Maemo or MeeGo, according to a post on the MeeGo blog.

According to the post, the PR 1.3 firmware update should be just around the corner and offers developers the possibility of developing apps that support both operating systems.

"The PR 1.3 update is quite close now, and with that you can easily dual boot between Maemo and Meego on your N900. There is also a possibility of developing applications supporting both operating systems, based on Qt and Qt Mobility APIs on the Maemo side. It means that you can develop once in PC with Qt Creator, and test your applications on both Maemo and MeeGo, directly on your N900 device," wrote Harri Hakulinen, MeeGo project leader at Nokia.

However, according to a statement issued to TheNokiaBlog, a dual-boot option will not be offered to consumers.

"The Nokia N900 is used as development hardware for platform developers working with MeeGo on ARM hardware architecture. While the software from the MeeGo project runs on the Nokia N900 for development purposes, Nokia does not intend to provide a dual-boot OS option to consumers in upcoming N900 commercial software releases as we want to ensure that we provide the best possible experience designed for that device," said the statement from a Nokia spokesperson.