Nokia plans to release a mass-market, Linux-based Maemo smartphone to compete with Apple’s iPhone in the second half of 2010, according to UBS analyst Maynard Um. Although the move appears to signal an increasing reliance by Nokia on Maemo at the expense of Symbian, a Nokia spokesman said the company still considers the Symbian platform its main smartphone operating system.

“Nokia cited that it expects to have a mass market iPhone competitor in [the second half of 2010] based on Maemo which we believe is a recognition that the ability to rely solely on the more standardized Symbian to compete is limited,” Um wrote in a research note to investors.

Via fiercewireless