+400'000 Android apps for MeeGo Harmattan?

Now in June 2012 OpenMobile seems to be working on a compatibility layer for MeeGo Harmattan, which should give us N9 users access to over 400'000 Android applications.

Even before the N9 was officially released, there were rumors about a possibility to run Android applications on MeeGo Harmatten using a compatibility layer. 

Myriad Group was the first to officially announce a way (called Alien Dalvik) to operate Android applications on non-Android devices. Another creator of a similar project called ACL (Application Compatibility Layer) is OpenMobile which promises to use the  Android ecosystem on other platforms.

Unfortunately many excited Nokia N9 users had to face a disappointement, because Alien Dalvik and OpenMobile's ACL only has been made available for OEMs (manufacturers) but not end-users - the hope to have Android apps on MeeGo Harmattan was fading away. But some hope is still there, and actually good news coming directly from OpenMobile.

On June 1st, OpenMobile posted following news on their website: 

ACL for MeeGo fans,
We haven’t forgotten about you, please be kind as our engineering team is working diligently on ACL for multiple platforms, including MeeGo. We understand how difficult the App Gap is to bear and we are working to get ACL for MeeGo to you shortly. While you wait, take a peek at out video demo of ACL for MeeGo… It is sure to impress! Please check back soon… We will post updates here as we are able to release them!

Next to that another video clip showing OpenMobile's ACL running on a MeeGo tablet.

But don't get confused: A MeeGo tablet is different to what we call MeeGo Harmattan (Nokia N9 operation system) and has nothing to do with Nokia. Therefore various readers asked if ACL will only be available for the original MeeGo by Intel or also Nokia's MeeGo Harmattan. We got following answer by OpenMobile:

Thank you all for your comments and kind words! Our engineering team at OpenMobile is diligently working on multiple platforms, including ACL for the Nokia N9 MeeGo Smartphone. Thank you for your interest in ACL™. Keep checking back to the blog for further updates and information as we are able to release it!

So that's some really good news! We hope that this time we not only get teased but finally get a way to have access to over 400'000 additional applications. The idea should not be to replace all the amazing N9 applications we already have, but ACL by OpenMobile could strengthen the N9 and combine a wonderful operation system with the second biggest ecosystem. For a lot of Android applications you don't necessarily need "Google Play" (aka Android Store) and can use various alternatives like GetJar.

We keep you updated and are curiously looking forward to hear more from OpenMobile!

Source: http://openmobileww.com/