Telefónica has confirmed its support for the Meego mobile software platform jointly developed by Nokia and Intel. MeeGo combines Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo open source projects into one Linux-based software platform hosted by the Linux Foundation. MeeGo offers a common operating system environment across multiple hardware platforms in a wide range of computing devices, including netbooks, pocketable mobile computers, tablets, next-generation smartphones, Internetconnected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. Telefónica intends to leverage the Meego capabilities to enable new innovative applications and converged services for its subscribers.

Today, Telefónica announced it will jointly explore with Intel and Nokia how to leverage MeeGo's capabilities in order to deliver leading and innovative converged services to its customers. The services could potentially include content and applications that can be accessed from devices such as smartphones, netbooks, tablets, and internet connected TVs for Telefónica’s wireline and wireless operations that currently reach over 265 million customers in 25 countries under the Movistar and O2 brands.

Announced earlier this year, MeeGo combines Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo open source projects into one Linux-based software platform hosted by the Linux Foundation. MeeGo has already been endorsed by a number of key OEMs and application developers. MeeGo enables an open software environment for rapid development for a range of smart, PC-like devices and exciting new
services.

“MeeGo is fully aligned with our major initiatives to improve customer experience in the mobile and converged Internet spaces” said Vivek Dev, Group Director of Innovation at Telefónica. “MeeGo's cross-platform approach and its focus on enabling the fast development of innovative applications, combined with its open source nature, are clearly supportive to our goals of reducing complexity and harnessing the potential of next-generation converging services.”

MeeGo offers a common operating system environment across multiple hardware platforms in a wide range of computing devices, including netbooks, pocketable mobile computers, tablets, next-generation smartphones, Internetconnected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

“It’s the Intel® Atom™ processor that makes possible a wealth of Internet, computing and communication experiences across multiple devices,” said Doug Fisher, vice president, Intel’s Software and Services Group. “Telefónica services based on Atom™ and MeeGo software can make life easier for subscribers and eliminate the need to learn a new interface with each new device, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet or TV.”

“We’re thrilled to see Telefónica join the rapidly-growing ecosystem of MeeGo supporters,” said Ari Jaaksi, Vice President, MeeGo Devices, Nokia. “By leveraging MeeGo, Telefónica can offer subscribers a consistent and intuitive experience across an array of devices, driving uptake of new applications and services.”

Telefónica will work with device manufacturers, application developers and service providers to explore ways of leveraging the Meego capabilities into their service offerings.

About Telefónica

Telefónica is one of the world’s largest telecommunications network operators by market capitalisation and number of customers. It centres its activities mainly on the fixed and mobile telephony businesses, while its broadband business is the key growth driver underpinning both. The company is also active on TV distribution (2.6 million customers in pay TV) and applications, being one of the founding members of the “Wholesale Applications Community”, an industry-wide initiative to allow developers to deploy a single application across multiple devices and across multiple operators. It operates in 25 countries and its customer base exceeds 273 million globally. Telefónica’s growth strategy is focused on the markets in which it has a strong foothold: Spain, Europe and Latin America. Telefónica is a 100% private company, with 1.5 million direct shareholders. Its share capital consists of 4,563,996,485 ordinary shares traded on the continuous market on the Spanish Stock Exchanges (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia) and on those of London, Tokyo, New York, Lima, Buenos Aires and São Paulo.

About the MeeGo Project

The MeeGo project combines Intel’s Moblin™ and Nokia’s Maemo projects into one Linux-based, open source software platform for the next generation of computing devices. The MeeGo software platform is designed to give developers the broadest range of device segments to target for their applications, including netbooks and entry-level desktops, handheld computing and communications devices, in-vehicle infotainment devices, connected TVs, media phones and more – all using a uniform set of APIs based on Qt. For consumers, MeeGo will offer innovative application experiences that they can take from device to device. The MeeGo project is hosted by the Linux Foundation. For more information on MeeGo, visit www.meego.com.