So, I have several startups behind me. I am looking for something new. I have time now, and I can afford to take risks, as long as there are interesting future prospects.
I was wondering what you guys think about Meego as a business opportunity. Does it makes sense to start working on commercial software and/or services (a la viigo etc.) for the platform? When will potential customers start looking for commercial grade software? what kind? What volumes?
Of course, it's all speculation, but I am very curious to hear opinions before I develop one of my own.

IMHO it's far too early to know. There's no real interest or momentum behind the platform at this time, and the only two companies that are showing a great deal of interest in it are Intel and Nokia.

Quality and consistency breeds confidence, and confidence brings on customers, and customers bring on commercial developers, which builds the brand and feeds the circle... At this early stage Meego has not much more to show for it but a terminal a bit of a route map so it would be a gamble. If the history of Nokia/Open Source/Maemo etc tell me anything, Meego could very well be a dead duck and in 2-3 years time you'll be asking the same question about the next operating system. But ofcourse no-one really knows, maybe that's half the excitement in taking that chance.

Personally, before investing much of my time/money etc etc I would wait and see how the brand develops and settles, developer APIs and resources become apparent and more mature, and see how it's going to be marketed and supported. All my opinion at this time, your mileage may vary.. good luck with whatever you decide anyway

At this point, I don't think it makes sense to commercially support this new/infant platform as a standalone 3rd party without any special deal with Nokia/Intel.

You can start developing for Maemo in Qt right now.
That will also be compatible (or will be able to be made compatible with minimal effort) wih MeeGo.

This is the whole purpose of the N900.
And there will be lots of people interested in testing, or buying commercial-grade appilcations. (Perhaps not much now, but will increase vastly in the future.)

I think there would be some opportunity in being an early mover on the platform. I think the interesting place is leveraging a cross platform strategy using Qt. It's only a matter of time till the mobile app market loses most of it's exclusivity (quick look at the similar apps in the android and Blackberry appstores show this).

I would say maybe look at meego as a target to stand out but aim at more than a meego only offering.

Of course MeeGo represents a business opportunity to developers. Said that, all depends on what do you want to develop for whom and when (as you know perfectly well).

A tip: if you are looking for volumes then you have to look at Qt and/or OpenGL ES not only from a MeeGo point of view, but also considering other platforms they support e.g. Symbian.

The first MeeGo release announced for May is not that far. Many questions from application developers will find an answers while we go after that release.

imho, with meego in the future, the only real big opportunities are going to be brokering partnerships with exiaitng content and service providers. maybe i am shortsighted, but i dont see opportunities on a venture level for just 'an app'.

Swineflue: What type of startups have you been involved in?

If MeeGo is managed competently then it has the potential to really shake things up within the computer industry.

It's a big "If".

Two in software, Two in telecom. What exactly do you mean when you say "managed completely?"

I wish Nokia would release their US sales figures for N900 sales so far. Being an unlocked phone (the only option) with one carrier (T-Mobile) in US, I haven't seen yet one single unit in the hands of a consumer here in DC area (which was not hit as hard by depression as other areas in the country). To draw any business plans and invest in Meego without some sales figures would be a risk, IMHO.