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Nokia Corp. recently announced that it made an all-cash offer for Norwegian software-application developer Trolltech that values the company at 843.7 million Norwegian kroner approx. USD 153.4 million.

The acquisition of Trolltech will allow Nokia to accelerate its cross-platform software strategy for mobile and desktop devices and further develop its Internet services business. With Trolltech's technology, Nokia and third-party developers hope to develop applications that will work online, on desktop computers and on Nokia's own hardware.

Nokia said the Trolltech's Qtopia software technology will help in the spread of its Ovi Web portal. Qt is also used in a variety of widely used desktop software, including Skype's Internet telephony application, the Google Earth satellite photo browser, and Adobe Photoshop Album, now part of the Photoshop Elements image editor, according to Trolltech.

The framework is available under commercial and open-source licenses: it is also used by the developers of KDE, a desktop environment for Linux operating systems. Trolltech recently updated the licensing conditions for Qt, making the code available under the GPLv3 license in addition to the GPLv2 license it already uses.

The Trolltech team will become part of Nokia's research and development group, where it plans to continue its work with the developers of KDE.

"Trolltech and Nokia share the goal of accelerating the adoption of Trolltech's Qt based technology in the commercial market and in the open source community," stated Haavard Nord, CEO and founder of Trolltech, in a press release.

The acquisition depends on several conditions, including the approval of shareholders and regulatory approvals. The Trolltech board unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept the deal. The two companies expect to complete the acquisition in the second quarter.

The Trolltech deal is a major headache for Motorola, because the struggling No. 3 handset maker uses Trolltech's Qtopia software in all of its Linux-based phones. By gobbling up the Norwegian company, Nokia gains even more control over the software supply chain and Motorola may lose a key supplier, notes Neil Mawston, director of wireless device strategies at tech consultancy Strategy Analytics. Motorola also uses software from Symbian, which is owned by a consortium of mobile-phone makers and majority-controlled by Nokia.