Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is on a buying binge and is now in the process of buying out Norway’s mobile and embedded software firm Trolltech. Trolltech’s Qt is used in popular software such as Skype, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Earth, Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) Photoshop Elements, Lucasfilm ..its Qtopia software is used in mobile handsets, video-phones, set-top boxes and media players. Its software allows developers to create apps for mobile phones that run across Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Windows, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) Macintosh OS X and the Linux or Unix OS.

Trolltech is publicly traded on Oslo exchange, and Nokia said it has support of shareholders holding about 66.43 percent of shares. Nokia’s offer is about NOK 16 per share in cash….that converts to about $155 million in total. The deal must meet approval of 90 percent of shareholders and is expected to clear in Q2 this year. Trolltech was started in 1994…its mobile software is based on the open source Linux platform.

With this acquisition, Nokia is betting on interoperability of mobile apps across platforms and devices, something that Google-backed Android and its coterie of supporters are also banking on. From Nokia’s release: “With Trolltech, Nokia and third party developers will be able to develop applications that work in the Internet, across Nokia’s device portfolio and on PCs.”

Nokia will continue the development of Trolltech’s products and support of new and existing customers….this also means it also gets close to Skype and Google, among others. Also, Nokia plans to continue to license Trolltech technology under both commercial and open source licenses.

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