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| Verizon, seven others join Linux phone org | ||
| 摘自: linuxdevices.com 被阅读次数: 296 | ||
由 yangyi 于 2008-05-14 22:44:03 提供 | ||
May 14, 2008 Verizon Wireless has chosen Linux as its mobile phone "platform of choice," it said. Starting with feature phones in 2009, followed by iPhone competitors, Verizon will offer Linux phones compliant with specifications from the Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMO), an international industry group it and seven other companies joined today.
"We are wholeheartedly endorsing LiMo's approach, and we are investing company resources, but we see the opportunity to have both the OHA and LiMo succeed and/or work together," said Malady. "LiMo is our platform of choice, but if there comes a point where we see there is benefit for our customers we will use OHA as well." The OHA and Google are taking a managed application approach to Linux phones, by doing everything -- even the phone UI -- in Java. LiMO, in contrast, is building standards around native Linux applications, so that Linux phones from different vendors have enough in common to simplify porting applications such as operator-specific user interfaces from one new model to the next. Malady said he would not force Verizon Wireless handset partners to develop LiMo-based models, but said that "our partners are supportive." Morgan Gillis, the former Symbian Senior VP who last year defected to Linux and the LiMo Foundation, singled out LG, which makes phones for Verizon, noting that the company is a LiMo member. While eight new members joined LiMo, only Verizon will be a "core" member -- occupying the last remaining seat on LiMo's board of directors, according to Gillis. Founded in 2007 by six of the biggest Linux phone heavyweights at the time, the LiMo Foundation has now grown to 40 members. Significantly, three of the new LiMO members are carriers. In most markets, including the U.S., carriers have the most power to determine which mobile phone models ultimately reach consumers. In addition to Verizon, other new LiMO carrier members include the French provide SFR, and the Korean provider SK Telecom.
LiMo's Big 'Mo Established in January 2007, the LiMo Foundation was confronted with what many see as a competitive mobile platform when Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) announced the Linux-based Android phone stack platform. However, since February, when LiMo announced that 18 LiMo-based handsets were shipping or were on their way, from vendors that include Aplix, LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Purple Labs, and Samsung, the group has begun to regain momentum from Android. This was reinforced six weeks ago with the formal release of its first specification. Meanwhile, LiMO has announced almost a dozen new members this year, including Access, Orange, AMD, and Texas Instruments. LiMo members are contributing a series of software development kits (SDKs) that should appear in the Fall, along with Release 2, says LiMo, with Access working on the Native SDK, Aplix focusing on the Java SDK, and Motorola developing an SDK for the Webkit HTML rendering engine. Wind River, meanwhile, is providing foundational components for LiMo's common integration environment (CIE), and higher-level tools are to be furnished by Azingo, which claims to offer the first LiMo-compliant mobile phone software stack. Both LiMo and Android are attempting to consolidate the fragmented mobile Linux market around common platforms in order to reduce costs and promote interoperability, they claim. Existing founder level members include Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Panasonic, Samsung, and Vodafone, and Core members include Access, Aplix, Azingo, LG Electronics, McAfee, TI, and Wind River. Stated Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation, "It is now clear that LiMo's transparent and participative governance model and total focus on the handset operating system, which are designed to avoid value-chain distortion, are proving to be very attractive to the whole industry." Stated Kiyohito Nagata of NTT DoCoMo, chairperson of LiMo Foundation, "The diversity of the global mobile ecosystem is exploding, and this is evidenced in the new class of LiMo members, which spans providers of Internet and wireless services, consumer and enterprise software, electronics and mobile phones." Stated Stuart Carlaw, VP and research director, mobile wireless with ABI Research, "LiMo Foundation has made impressive inroads across the mobile ecosystem and has acquired a varied and truly global footprint. As OEMs and operators seek to gain technical and business efficiencies by consolidating the number of handset platforms, there is now no doubt that LiMo-powered devices will comprise a significant percentage of many operators' portfolios." Related Stories:
Original link: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news... |
