Nokia sells daughter company Qts commercial software licensing business to Digia

The Norwegian company Trolltech was bought by Nokia in 2008 when it also changed its name to Qt. Qt is a framework for developing applications for multiple platforms without having to rewrite the source code. According to Qt, by using their framework, the development time is reduced by 50% and has a source code reduction of 50%. Nokias bought Qt because they wanted to attract developers to make cross-platform layers on top of their software platforms. Software plays a major role in our growth strategy for devices, PCs and the integration with the Internet was the word by Kai Oistamo, Nokia executive vice president for devices back in 2008.

After the Microsoft / Nokia partnership and their effort to create a new global mobile ecosystem, it also seems like Nokia wants to move focus from software to hardware development and manufacturing. Nokias smartphone platform of choice the next few years seems to be Windows Phone, but Nokia is also planing to sell over a million entry level Series 40 handsets each day in 2011. Qt for Symbian is the development framework for those developing for the Symbian platform.

Qt are available in three lincenses

• Qt GNU GPL. This version of Qt is appropriate for the development of Qt applications where developers wish to use such applications in combination with software subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3.0 or where they are otherwise willing to comply with the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3.0
• Qt GNU LGPL v. 2.1. This version of Qt is appropriate for the development of Qt applications (proprietary or open source) provided the developer can comply with the terms and conditions contained in the GNU LGPL version 2.1.
• Qt  Commercial Developer License. The Qt Commercial Developer License is the appropriate version to use for the development of proprietary and/or commercial software where the developer does not wish to share or distribute any source code of the Qt libraries or otherwise comply with the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 or GNU GPL version 3.0.

It is the last license that Digia has bought from Nokia. Price for the commercial license varies from Euro 2995,- to 6395,-

Qt is not only used in mobile devices, but also Home Media, Aerospace, Automotive Infotainment systems, Medical and more. Maemo 5 and MeeGo platforms are also supported by Qt. More devices

Some of the applications developed using Qt are: KDE desktop environment for Linux, Autodesk Maya and the popular VLC media player.

The transaction is expected to be closed by the end of March 2011.

Sources: Qt Blog, Digia