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Telecommunications Linux the rising star of the mobile OS market
Telecommunications Linux the rising star of the mobile OS market | Linux the rising star of the mobile OS market |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Tuesday, 18 July 2006 | |
  
According to IMS Research, a research firm based in Austin, Texas, the use of Linux as a mobile operating system has been growing steadily and an increasing number of companies are announcing plans to develop Linux platforms. IMS contends that Linux is uniquely positioned for both smartphone and 'feature phones', in sharp contrast to Symbian, Windows Mobile and Palm which, it says have all concentrated on the smartphone segment. "Some key benefits of Linux as a mobile OS include its small kernel size, open source, and low (no) cost," IMS says. It lists examples of Linux based devices as including products from MontaVista and Wind River and proprietary systems used by Motorola, Access, BenQ, and others. Also, it notes that PalmSource has announced the development of its Access Linux Platform (ALP) for smartphones, which it believes may be commercially available in late 2007. However, IMS says these development do not mean that Linux is without challenges, the most significant of which is the lack of a single set of standards. "There are currently a number of industry organisations that are trying to address this issue, including the Linux Phone Standards forum (LiPS), the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) Mobile Linux Initiative, and the Mobilinux Open Framework Platform to name a few," according to IMS. It says that, "despite these efforts, there has not been significant forward progress on a platform standard." IMS Research predicts that the successful development of a uniform standard for Mobile Linux will have a significant impact on the handset market. It says that the recent announcement from Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, NEC, Panasonic, and Samsung Electronics that they will form a foundation to pursue a uniform open Linux-based platform "could mark a turning point for the future of Linux as a mobile OS." Foundation members have stated that they hope to see the first handsets shipping based on the uniform platform by 2007. "While this might appear to be an ambitious goal, it is important to note the considerable experience that each of the member companies has with Linux," IMS says. "In particular, NTT DoCoMo has been using MOAP-L, a Linux derivative on their Japanese handsets, while Motorola has been using EZX for several of their models. This experience should help to streamline the development process." |
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