Nokia and Intel have joined hands to merge two of their mobile operating systems into Meego, a Linux-based, open operating system for everything from advanced smartphones to netbooks, connected TVs and tablet computers, the companies announced at a joint press conference on Monday.

Intel developed Moblin, and Nokia developed Maemo. The first version of MeeGo is revealed to ship during the second quarter.

The new operating system features the best part from each operating system, including the Moblin core and the UI (user interface) toolkit from Maemo.

The analysts have reflected the new partnership could lead to some awkward situations. For example, Nokia currently supports the Symbian OS for its smartphones and could find itself working on two rival platforms.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's CEO, posted, "MeeGo will drive an even wider range of internet computing and communication experiences for consumers, on new types of mobile devices... Simply put, MeeGo heralds a new era of mobile computing".

The arrival of MeeGo is expected to pose no effect on Nokia's plans for Symbian. That operating system will still be used on cheaper smartphones, cited Öistämö.