Jolla’s MeeGo smartphone in development: Possible Android and Firefox Mobile OS compatibility

Ex-Nokia start-up Jolla has revealed new details about the smartphone it’s developing, including the possibility of it being able to run Android, KDE and Firefox apps.

Last month, it was revealed that a number of former engineers and executives from Nokia’s MeeGo N9 division had launched the start-up to continue developing smartphones based on Nokia’s now abandoned MeeGo smartphone platform. Soon after, the start-up revealed it has secured a contract with China’s largest phone retail chain.

In an interview translated by Arctic Startup, Jolla CEO Jussi Hurmola has revealed new details about the start-up’s planned smartphones.

Although the company is not keen to disclose details yet, Hurmola appears to suggest the company is working on Application Compatibility Layers that would allow the smartphone to run Android apps, as well as cross-platform HTML5 mobile apps supported by Mozilla’s forthcoming Firefox Mobile OS.

MeeGo already supports Qt, which forms the basis of the KDE environment for Linux, allowing modified versions of KDE Linux apps to be ported to the platform.

The company’s smartphones will feature a display size larger than 3.5 inches, with the company giving designers a “strong say” in how the smartphone and its interface could be differentiated from Android and iPhone.