Nokia’s Symbian smartphones are popular for many reasons – one of them may be the fact that Nokia allows mobile operators to customize their software.

Well, Nokia apparently intends to try a different approach when it comes to devices that will use its new Maemo platform.

According to Reuters, the Finnish giant plans to reduce the level of software customization that carriers are usually imposing – this way, its upcoming Maemo smartphones will be more like Nokia wants, and not like the carriers want.

David Rivas, Nokia’s vice president for devices R&D, was quoted as saying: Without being able to tailor the software the way they want, some carriers might refuse to sell Nokia’s Maemo devices. That’s why analysts believe that Nokia will actually do it the carriers’ way.

Well, I guess we’ll see how things are going when the N900 – Nokia’s first Maemo smartphone – hits the market, sometime in October this year.