Nokia – the world’s largest handset vendor – is to ditch Symbian software for its future high-end smartphones, turning instead to the Linux-based MeeGo platform formed from its joint venture with Intel. Reuters reports that the Finnish company’s next smartphone, the N8, will be the last N-series phone running Symbian software. The N-series has been Nokia’s crown jewel for years and dominated the smartphone space before the arrival of Apple’s iconic iPhone. “Going forward, N-series devices will be based on MeeGo,” said Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson. Nokia will continue to use Symbian for its vast portfolio of cheaper smartphones. “Symbian is enabling us to bring smartphones to more and more people and ensures the benefits of scale for our solutions and services, and for developers,” Dawson added.

Reports suggest the move is yet another blow for Symbian, which has been losing share in the smartphone operating system market. However, such a move is not that unexpected given Nokia’s focus on MeeGo. Announced at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 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. The project has already received backing from France Telecom’s Orange and Telefonica, as well as numerous OEMs and application developers. The platform is the latest open-source mobile operating system to take on Google’s Android, which is also Linux-based.