Looks like the clouds surrounding the future of MeeGo have finally cleared up. Intel has announced today that it is bidding farewell to MeeGo and joining Tizen project which is part of the Linux Foundation. The Tizen project was announced yesterday by the Linux foundation and the LiMo foundation as an open-source Linux based device software platform. Tizen covers smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems. The first devices powered by Tizen are expected to hit the market in mid-2012.
The development of Tizen will be completely open (as in open source ) and led by a technical steering team composed of Intel and Samsung. Surprisingly Nokia just announced yesterday that it is shipping its only MeeGo device the N9 and would provide support till 2015. The Nokia Intel marriage sadly never worked, and Intel is betting on a more aggressive player Samsung this time round. It’s hard to say at this point if Tizen devices will be good enough to take on Android , WP7 or iOS, only time will tell.