LiMo Foundation unveils handsets, adds members
By Anonymous
Created Feb 11 2008 - 10:00am
Open source mobile consortium LiMo Foundation unveiled the first handsets based on its fledgling Linux-based LiMo Platform and announced nine new members as well as its SDK strategy during a press conference Monday morning at Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona. LiMo Foundation, formally announced at last year's Mobile World Congress event, debuted a series of commercial handsets including Motorola's Moto U9, Moto Z6w, Motorokr Z6 and Razr2 V8, NEC's FOMA N905i and FOMA N705i, Panasonic's FOMA P905iTV and FOMA N7051, and Samsung's SGH-i800--in addition, reference and prototype handsets from LG, Aplix and Purple Labs were introduced.
"This is an important milestone in the evolution of a new industry platform," said LiMo Foundation executive director Morgan Gillis. "The announcement of these handsets signals to the whole industry that this platform is making significant progress."
LiMo Foundation also announced the marquee additions of operator Orange and software provider Access Co. alongside AMD, FueTrek, Open-Plug, Renesas Technology, Samsung SDS, SoftBank and STMicroelectronics, bringing the consortium's overall membership to 32. "We are firmly committed to the growth of Linux--it is the most permissive platform," said Orange's EVP of strategic marketing Georges Penalver Monday. "[Linux] is not an academic exercise for us. We want to deliver for our customers as soon as possible. We want devices in 2008, and a wide range of products in 2009."
Gillis also outlined the LiMo Foundation's SDK strategy a week after announcing the first release of the LiMo Platform will arrive March. LiMo Foundation co-founders Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone all collaborated on Release 1, creating a modular open software platform enabled almost entirely by technology already in commercial deployment on handsets. According to Gillis, a comprehensive SDK strategy spanning the Native, Java and WebKit SDKs will roll out in the second half of 2008, supporting LiMo-based handsets scheduled to come to market in the fourth quarter. The SDK suite is presently being readied by LiMo board members Access Co., Aplix, Azingo, Motorola and Wind River.
"We're creating a uniform space where mobile developers can participate in a deeper and more interesting way," Gillis said. "We see openness and unification as the headline themes for the industry this year, and mobile Linux plays directly to those themes."
