LiMo leaps ahead

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 11 February 2009 04:13

IT Industry - Market

The LiMo Foundation set up to develop and promote an open source Linux based cellphone platform has signed up six new major operator members that have commited to specify and deliver handsets using LiMo Platform implementations in 2009.

They are NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. Telefónica and SK Telecom representatives have also been appointed to the foundation's board. To date 33 commercial handset models have been certified as LiMo compliant, including 10 being displayed at Mobile World Congress by NEC and Panasonic together with new prototype models from LG Electronics and Samsung.

"The makeup of the LiMo board has deepened substantially from the initial six founder members of early 2007 to now include six major operators that represent hundreds of millions of mobile subscribers spanning every continent on the globe," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation.

Bondi common interface endorsed
The LiMo foundation has endorsed the OMTP Bondi specification and says it expects future LiMo handsets using a web runtime to support Bondi. According to the foundation "The mobile industry has lacked a common specification that allows for easy re-use and portability of web applications and widgets - often forcing developers to repeatedly re-write their code in order for their program to run on the many different types of mobile handsets."

Bondi creates a common interface between these applications and the underlying handset functionality to ensure seamless deployment of innovative web applications. Any web engine or browser can use the Bondi open interfaces, to enable Web 2.0 applications and widgets to easily use the powerful capabilities of today's mobile devices.

(And yes, Bondi was named after Australia's most famous beach, "because OMTP wants mobile customers to have the greatest surfing experience whilst making the experience as safe as possible.")

Also, the LiMo Foundation has selected Wind River as the systems integrator to deliver the common infrastructure, tools, testing and integration services for the LiMo platform..

Release 2 of LiMo on track for late 2009
LiMo also announced that all contributions for the R2 version of the LiMo platform have been submitted by members n advance of final delivery later in 2009 with interim releases being made to allow OEMs to continue to build next-generation LiMo devices.

"The on-time completion of R2 technology contributions and the introduction of reference implementations demonstrate the deep collaboration amongst mobile industry leaders within the LiMo ecosystem, said Gillis, "Cooperation of this nature is unprecedented within the mobile industry and is fostered by LiMo's unique governance frameworks which promote balanced contributions and influence over the LiMo Platform," he claimed. "The LiMo Reference Implementations will reduce time to market for LiMo devices while providing ample scope for deep customisation at the user interface and application layers."