Nokia and Trolltech have announced that they have entered into an agreement that Nokia will make a public voluntary tender offer to acquire Trolltech, a Norwegian software provider.

Nokia says the acquisition will enable it to speed up its cross-platform software strategy for mobile services and desktop applications, and develop its internet services business.

With Trolltech, Nokia and third party developers will be able to develop applications that work in the internet, across Nokia's devices and on PCs too.

Trolltech is a member of the LiMo Foundation, a mobile platform group that is working to build an open software platform for handsets based on Linux with members that include Motorola, NEC and Samsung.

"The technology landscape evolves and, for Nokia, software plays a major role in our growth strategy for devices, PCs and the integration with the Internet. We continue to focus on areas where we can differentiate and add more value. Common cross-platform layers on top of our software platforms attract innovation and enable Web 2.0 technologies in the mobile space", said Kai Öistämö, executive vice president, Devices, Nokia.

"Trolltech's deep understanding of open source software and its strong technology assets will enable both Nokia and others to innovate on our device platforms while reducing time-to-market. This acquisition will also further increase the competitiveness of S60 and Series 40."

In the official statement, Nokia says it "embraces open source technology and will take further the open source development culture found in Trolltech".