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| DATE | 2005-10-18 |
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Mobile GNU/Linux
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Group Seeks
Unity In
Mobile Linux
Oct. 17,
2005
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Article
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InformationWeek
Participants
in the
multi-vendor
consortium
plan to
develop a
base-level
platform on
which
handset
manufacturers can build.
By Antone
Gonsalves
TechWeb News
Open Source
Development
Labs, which
employs
Linux
creator
Linus
Torvalds,
said Monday
it has
brought
together
Motorola
Inc. and
several
other
high-tech
vendors in
an effort to
develop a
Linux
platform for
advanced
cellular
phones and
other mobile
devices.
Members of
the OSDL
working
group,
called the
Mobile Linux
Initiative,
also include
MontaVista
Software,
PalmSource,
Trolltech
and Wind
River. The
participants
plan to
develop a
base-level
platform
that handset
manufacturers can build on top of, Dave Rosenberg, analyst for Beaverton, Ore.-based, OSDL, said. Requirements for the OS would include power management to increase battery life, a standard interface for connecting to the various carrier networks and other basic functions that would have to be crammed into an OS that runs in devices with limited memory.
Participants
have built
their own
Linux-based
OSes, but
the idea is
to
collaborate
on a single
platform in
order to
make it a
stronger
competitor.
Much like
the Linux
computer
world,
software
vendors
would make
money on
applications
built on top
of the OS.
"A lot of
this is sort
of a
unification
of all these
(separate)
efforts into
a base
platform
that meets
the needs of
more than
one vendor,"
Rosenberg
said. "There
really is no
vendor
neutral
development
on (mobile)
Linux. There
all
different."
Avi
Greengart,
analyst for
market
researcher
Current
Analysis,
said broader
use of Linux
has been
hampered by
not having a
single
platform.
Most handset
manufacturers today, have to build their own Linux-based OS in order to use the technology. Such an effort often supersedes advantages of the OS, which provides standards-based, open-source technology at no charge.
"The problem
has always
been there's
more promise
than
delivery
with Linux
(on mobile
devices),"
Greengart
said. "You
end up doing
a lot of
low-level
programming
yourself."
Reducing
development
time is a
key selling
point for
Microsoft,
which is
marketing
Windows
Mobile
"very, very
aggressively" in Europe and particularly in the United States, Greengart said. The advantage of Microsoft are its development tools, which help bring applications to market sooner.
Symbian is
also
proprietary,
but it too
delivers
much of
what's
needed by a
handset
maker.
With the
exception of
Motorola,
there are no
major
manufacturers in the OSDL group. In order for the effort to succeed, it will need to sign up companies like LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, Greengart said.
PalmSource,
however,
could give
the OSDL a
boost In
China, a
strong and
growing
cellular
phone
market. The
company,
which makes
the Palm OS,
last year
bought China
Mobile Ltd.,
which is
developing a
Chinese
version of
Linux.
Even though
it uses
Symbian in
advanced
cellular
phones, also
called
smartphones,
Nokia in May
released a
mobile
device
called the
Nokia 770
Internet
Tablet on
Linux. The
Finnish
company
plans to
release a
software
update in
the first
half of next
year that
will support
Internet
telephony
and instant
messaging.
Analysts
have said
that the
tablet is an
indication
that Nokia
could be
planning a
Linux-based
mobile
phone.
Symbian,
however is
expected to
continue
dominating
the global
market for
smartphones,
reaching 60
percent by
2009 from
55.9 percent
last year,
according to
International Data Corp. Windows Mobile, on the other hand is expected to increase its share to 17.3 percent from 12.7 percent, and Linux is projected to grow to nearly 17 percent from 11.3 percent.
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