Nokia MeeGo chief Jaaksi quits

The head of Nokia's MeeGo Linux mobile operating system unit, Dr Ari Jaaksi, has resigned.

In a statement on Tuesday, Nokia said Jaaksi had "decided to pursue opportunities outside of Nokia". "We thank him for his contribution over the years," the company said. "Despite Ari's departure, our MeeGo strategy remains unchanged. MeeGo continues its strong momentum."

Jaaksi was a Nokia veteran, having headed up MeeGo's predecessor, Maemo, since its first production version in 2005. Maemo was used in a series of tablet handhelds that culminated in the N900, and in February this year it was merged, along with Intel's Moblin Linux distro, into MeeGo. Nokia intends to launch its first MeeGo handset, rumoured to be the N9, by the end of this year.

Nokia also continues to develop its Symbian operating system, which is a slightly more mid-range rival to MeeGo. The next version of that OS, Symbian^4, will be the first to sport a fully redesigned user interface since Symbian — now also open-source — became touch-enabled, and is widely seen as a last-ditch attempt for Nokia to stay relevant in the face of competition from Android and the iPhone.