Intel, Nokia and the University of Oulu officially opened the Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center today. It will employ about two dozen R&D professionals and become the latest member of Intel's European Research Network, Intel Labs Europe.

Initially the lab will conduct research for new mobile user experiences that could leverage the increasing capabilities of mobile devices. Creating interfaces that are more similar to interactions in the real world can enable experiences that are more natural and intuitive, in the same way that modern games and movies are more immersive through the use of realistic 3-D graphics.

The new lab is well aligned with the MeeGo open source platform recently launched by Intel and Nokia. MeeGo provides flexibility for developing new 3-D experiences on mobile devices as much of the lab's research activity will also be open source.

Nokia hopes MeeGo will help it in the battle against Apple's iPhone and Google's Android at the top end of the cellphone market. Nokia controls 40 percent of the smartphone market volumes -- using its Symbian software -- but has lost its leading position among the most expensive models to the new rivals.

"The University of Oulu's focus on future telecommunications solutions as well as electronics and photonics made it the perfect location for the Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center," says Justin Rattner, Intel chief technology officer and director of Intel Labs.

Another potential area of research could look into technologies that allow displaying a 3-D hologram of the person you are talking to on the phone, a capability only found in science fiction movies today.

"3-D technology could change the way we use our mobile devices and make our experiences with them much more immersive," said Rich Green, Senior vice president and chief technical officer, Nokia. "Our new joint laboratory with Intel draws on the Oulu research community's 3-D interface expertise, and over time will lay down some important foundations for future mobile experiences."

The lab will be located at the Center for Internet Excellence at the University of Oulu, and will work closely with the Oulu Urban Living Labs, which provide a unique environment for sensor research, testing and piloting technological and social innovations.

Specs of Nokia's N9 MeeGo phone 'leak'

A document detailing the specifications for the Nokia?s forthcoming N9 smartphone has appeared on a Chinese web site.

The new handset, which will be based on the MeeGo OS, appears to be based on a Qualcomm 1GHz QSD8250 processor with 512MB of RAM, 1GB NANDM and 64GB of internal storage. It also has a 4" Super AMOLED screen.

For connectivity the device will have HSPA+ cellular connectivity and will support 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and version 2.0 of Bluetooth for peripheral devices. The specifications also indicate it can take 720p video at 30 frames per second.