Analysis: Mobile industry pursues Linux platform

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 16 Jun 2006 at 12:28

Mobile companies are clubbing together to create a foundation in pursuit of a Linux platform for mobile phones.

Handset builders Motorola, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung and operators Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo announced yesterday they will build the world's first 'global, open Linux-based software platform for mobile devices'.

It aims to develop an API specification, reference architectures and implementations, and a set of developer tools. It will seek participation from 'all interested companies' and coordinate its efforts with existing industry bodies.

And there are plenty of them. Largely sponsored by the same, or rival companies.

The Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS), for example, has the express goal to 'define a standardized software platform which allows applications and services to be deployed across all types of Linux telephony terminals, fostering interoperability and promoting adoption of Linux.' LiPS members include France Telecom - owner of Orange, as well as chip maker ARM, embedded Linux distributor Montavista and PalmSource.

In addition, the Mobile Linux Initiative (MLI) intends 'to accelerate adoption of Linux on next-generation mobile handsets and other converged voice/data portable devices' (see MLI). Its membership includes familiar names: operator NTT DoCoMo; handset makers Motorola, NEC; and platform specialists MontaVista and PalmSource.

So we had to ask: 'What's different about this new venture?' Vodafone stunned us with the response: 'Mainly because it's designed for mobile'.

Rachel Lashford, senior analyst at Canalys, told us: 'It's difficult to see how this will be a really different initiative.'

Indeed, Linux itself has been around on phones for several years now. Motorola launched its A760 back in March 2003. NEC has been shipping Linux phones since 2004, it claims, while Panasonic claims to have put 8 million Linux phones into the Japanese market.

But Lashford said that the NEC and Panasonic phones, built for NTT DoCoMo's 3G FOMA service have little in the way of developer communities backing them. She suggested that Motorola is perhaps the lone handset manufacturer that stands to make a success of a Linux phone, as it has successfully built such a community behind its version of the platform.

In-house development of Linux mobile platforms can cause problems of their own - and this is partly what the announcement is designed to address.

Lashford said: 'There is a need to try and prevent Linux fragmentation [in the mobile arena]. It's a hindrance to the developer community. But [the foundation] will have to build support tools for a community. And to compete with Microsoft and Symbian takes resources. To do that it could take time - perhaps a year to 18 months at least.'

The big name missing from these Linux mobile initiatives is handset giant Nokia. And with a controlling interest in Symbian, that's not surprising.

Yet Nokia was quite positive on its views on these Linux initiatives: 'It is always beneficial for the industry to explore the various possibilities that exist,' we were told. Yet it remains committed to Symbian.

'Nokia's Open OS strategy for cellular mobile devices is based on Symbian OS and S60 which provide mature and consistent platforms capabilities for rich mobile devices and application development,' Communications Manager Maija Taimi said. 'Nokia is exploring the use of Linux in our new non-cellular device category through our recently introduced Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. In the area of mobile phones, Linux still contains challenges compared to Symbian OS and S60 which include a rich feature set of for mobile devices. Currently Nokia has nothing to announce about development of mobile devices based on Linux.'