Two operating systems don’t appear to be enough for Nokia. The device manufacturer has purchased a feature phone operating system called Smarterphone from a Ferd, a Norwegian company. Smarterphone is described as making “it possible to deliver a user experience similar to smart phones on affordable hardware, and allows unique flexibility for tailoring handset software to different markets.”
Smarterphone comes with a number of features found on smartphones. Among these are touchscreen support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, social media apps, messsaging (email, MMS and SMS), a web browser, theme switching, and more.
Nokia currently uses Windows Phone for its smartphones and Symbian for its lower-end devices. How Smarterphone fits into this remains to be seen. Its latest version is optimized for “phones in the $25 to $75 price segment,” suggesting it could be used in emerging markets.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.