Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
A group of big name mobile phone manufacturers have thrown their weight behind Linux as a common platform for developing mobile applications. However, one big name is missing from the list.
According to a report from telecoms analyst firm Ovum, handset
manufacturers Motorola, Samsung, NEC and Panasonic have joined forces
with mobile operators Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo to create a consistent
Linux-based platform for mobile handsets. The notable exception is
Nokia. The initiative, which will be governed through an independent,
not-for-profit foundation, seeks to develop and market a consistent set
of mobile Linux application programming interfaces. The aim is to
attract developers, ISVs and chipset manufacturers, as well as other
OEMs and operators. The first handsets based on the new specification
are targeted for introduction in H2 2007.
In a research note, Ovum analyst Tony Cripps says that the presence of
heavy hitters such as Vodafone, Motorola, Samsung and DoCoMo backing
this initiative, means it has to be taken seriously. However, there is still
a lot of work to be done in the areas of the legal aspects surrounding
technology licensing and certification and application testing
procedures.
"Linux's prospects of making a real impression on the mobile telecoms
industry have previously been hindered by the inability of its
supporters to offer a consistent, natively-programmable platform for
developers and service providers to target," says Cripps. "Some
efforts at achieving consistency in Linux handsets have been apparent,
notably the efforts by NTT DoCoMo and handset partners Panasonic and
NEC in Japan, and Motorola in the rest of the world. But these have
concentrated more on improving Linux's scalability across a range of
handsets than on making it an attractive application platform for
developers.
"Fragmentation at the application layer has been the rule, and the
incentive to build a coherent developer ecosystem has been missing. As
such, Linux handsets have remained effectively 'closed' to third-party
developers - except where courted directly by manufacturers or their
operator customers. It has not been possible to compare them directly
with genuinely "open" mobile platforms such as Microsoft's Windows
Mobile and Nokia's Symbian-based S60. If the new group gets its sums
right, that should now start to change."
Cripps believes that the new Linux initiative may begin to test
manufacturer loyalty to commercial handset software platform players
such as Microsoft and Symbian once the first devices come on stream.
David Bass
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In a research note, Ovum analyst Tony Cripps says that the presence of
heavy hitters such as Vodafone, Motorola, Samsung and DoCoMo backing
this initiative, means it has to be taken seriously. However, there is still
a lot of work to be done in the areas of the legal aspects surrounding
technology licensing and certification and application testing
procedures.
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