Google Phone

The LiMo Foundation - who were working on a mobile Linux OS before Google entered the market, remember - have finally launched their LiMo Platform, with APIs available for developers now, and the first full release expected in March.  Of course, while discussing his own offering, LiMo executive director Morgan Gillis still found time to give the Android team a little advice but first, predictably perhaps, a discrete slight:

“The first release of the LiMo Platform combines technologies already extensively market proven within an array of leading handsets. This will enable initial LiMo handsets to register in the marketplace far more rapidly than handsets based on unproven technology” Morgan Gillis, executive director, LiMo Foundation

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Another day, another Linux-based cellphone OS: it’s the turn of Azingo to launch their Azingo Mobile platform, based on the existing work of the LiMo Foundation, as an out-of-the-box suite of mobile applications plugging into a pre-existing middleware framework and kernel.  Like Android, Azingo Mobile is being marketed as a straightforward, low-development-intensive option for manufacturers looking for an OS for their hardware designs; unlike Android, Azingo already have a history with those manufacturers.

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Last year we suggested that, rather than Microsoft or Apple, Nokia was Android’s main competitor; since then, the Finnish company has announced Q4 2007 sales of €15,7bn ($23bn), an increase of 34-percent over the same quarter the previous year, and strong performance in all regions bar the US.  Today, however, comes the next step in Nokia’s plans to rival the Open Handset Alliance: they’ve made a €104m ($153) bid for Trolltech, a multi-platform Linux developer responsible for the software currently found running Google Earth, Skype, and a variety of mobile devices including Sony’s Mylo messenger.

“The technology landscape evolves and, for Nokia, software plays a major role in our growth strategy for devices, PCs and the integration with the Internet. We continue to focus on areas where we can differentiate and add more value. Common cross-platform layers on top of our software platforms attract innovation and enable Web 2.0 technologies in the mobile space.  Trolltech’s deep understanding of open source software and its strong technology assets will enable both Nokia and others to innovate on our device platforms while reducing time-to-market. This acquisition will also further increase the competitiveness of S60 and Series 40″ Kai Öistämö, Executive Vice President, Devices, Nokia

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Lest we forget, Google and the OHA is not the first player to step into the mobile Linux arena.  The LiMo Foundation - whose membership includes some overlap with the OHA - has been developing the open-source OS for mobile use, and Technology News spoke to Executive Director Morgan Gillis about the potential for change now that Google has set its sights on cellphones.  Predictably upbeat, Gillis reckons LiMo and Android have more to gain from cooperation than competition, and that even if dominance was on the agenda they’re targeting different areas:

“[W]hile Google’s focus is on consumers and the user experience, LiMo’s focus is on the middleware — the layer of technology that sits beneath the user experience layer. LiMo is really catalyzing next-generation user experiences on mobile Linux from whomever they may originate.  So there is a very elegant dovetailing between Google and LiMo in terms of our respective areas of focus” Morgan Gillis, LiMo Foundation

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