The Mobile Linux Weather Forecast
November 5, 2007 | 1 Comment
Mostly Sunny - Change in Winds on Monday
It is most auspicious that the Linux Foundation and I are launching this blog on the eve of the heralded “Android” announcement from Google and its partners. After months of leaks and endless industry speculation, Google appears to be ready to unveil its “gPhone”, throwing down the gauntlet not just to Apple, but to Microsoft, Symbian and the mobile software status quo.
Android could be a “Yikes” that shakes things up, or a “Yawn”.
Yikes: Microsoft spends huge amounts of time and energy Google-watching, and just as WindowsMobile is gaining momentum, Redmond’s nemesis shows up in the phone market, too. Symbian has enjoyed new design wins and growing deployment of smartphone SymbianOS. However, analyst firms like Canalys and ABI Research show both Microsoft and Symbian growth faltering, and predict a three-horse race for smart and feature phones by the end of the decade, with Linux pulling ahead in following years. Whether Google and its platform lead that race or just bolster the pack is an open question.
Yawn: Google and its presumed partners in the “Open Handset Alliance” join a bevy of consortia, commercial software providers, and handset OEMs vying to specify, build and market a ubiquitous Linux-based platform. Consortia contributing to a nascent mobile Linux definition include
- The LiMO Foundation
- The Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS)
- Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF)
- Gnome Mobile and Embedded (GMAE)
- Moblin.org
and the Mobile Linux Initiative (MLI) of my host for this blog, the Linux Foundation.
On the commercial side, Google joins ACCESS, A La Mobile, Celunite, FST, Mizi Research, OpenMoko/FIC, Purple Labs, Trolltech and others, including base platforms and tools from MontaVista and Wind River (Google’s partner in its announcement).
Handset-wise, Motorola and NEC/Panasonic offer their own mobile Linux flavors, individually and in the future via LiMO. Palm and a slew of Chinese OEMs also have their own platforms, variously presented as hopeful magnets for developers or one-offs to catch the growing market trend.
Yeah! The Android platform and the accompanying Open Mobile Alliance may constitute another Linux “knitting circle”, or could represent the tipping point for mobile Linux and a unifying force in a fragmented space. In either case, having a company like Google with a visible commitment to Open Source behind Linux in mobile raises the atmospheric pressure. Expect bright sunshine on mobile Linux today and for the rest of the year.
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Bill Weinberg
Bill Weinberg uses his two decades of open source, embedded and open systems, telecoms, and other technology experience to keep us updated on Linux in the mobile market.