Linux on handhelds pushed

Motorola and PalmSource are among the companies that lined up last week behind an initiative that aims to promote the use of Linux on cell phones.

The Mobile Linux Initiative was launched by Open Source Development Labs (OSDL ) to tackle technical challenges and support the adoption of Linux on handheld devices.

"There is a lot of momentum for Linux on handhelds, specifically for mobile phones," says Eirik Chambe-Eng, president and co-founder of Trolltech, a company that builds a GUI on top of Linux for mobile devices and has joined the OSDL effort. But because more companies are developing Linux for mobile products, there is a need to coordinate the efforts, he says.

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Motorola and PalmSource are among the companies that lined up last week behind an initiative that aims to promote the use of Linux on cell phones.

The Mobile Linux Initiative was launched by Open Source Development Labs (OSDL ) to tackle technical challenges and support the adoption of Linux on handheld devices.

"There is a lot of momentum for Linux on handhelds, specifically for mobile phones," says Eirik Chambe-Eng, president and co-founder of Trolltech, a company that builds a GUI on top of Linux for mobile devices and has joined the OSDL effort. But because more companies are developing Linux for mobile products, there is a need to coordinate the efforts, he says.

"All of the Linux developments are a disparate set of projects," says Ben Wood, research vice president for mobile devices at Gartner. "It's not like write once, run anywhere."

Companies involved in the Mobile Linux Initiative hope to pull together their developments in a common direction.

The group's technical achievements also could be important. Companies such as Trolltech depend on a good Linux kernel that can efficiently use processor and electrical power in devices.

"This initiative is aimed at creating one good kernel of [operating system] that uses the resources of the mobile phone," Chambe-Eng says.

In addition to Motorola, PalmSource and Trolltech, MontaVista Software and Wind River Systems were named as the first members to participate in the initiative.

Linux-based devices have been popular in Asia, but haven't had much traction in Europe or the U.S. Motorola has shipped more than 3 million devices in China that are based on Linux and Trolltech's software, Chambe-Eng says.

He expects that such manufacturers as Motorola will begin making more of a push with these products into Europe and the U.S. in the next six to 12 months.

Linux is attractive to mobile manufacturers for its capabilities, as well as cost. Linux may solve some of the problems that manufacturers face with building full-feature phones that may include cameras, color displays, video cameras and Web browsing.

"The [operating systems] that manufacturers are using are starting to run out of horsepower," Wood says.

He doesn't think Linux necessarily poses a serious threat to suppliers of mobile devices, such as Symbian and Microsoft.

Nokia, for example, is quite committed to Symbian, and while Wood expects Nokia may look to use open source products for some of its non-cell phone devices, it's unlikely that the company would soon turn to Linux for its mobile phones.

Nokia's 770 Internet tablet is based on open source software. But Linux also is becoming increasingly attractive, because it can reduce costs for manufacturers.

The Symbian operating system costs manufacturers between $5 and $7 per phone, Wood says. A Linux-based phone would probably come in under that.

While there is a growing interest in Linux in the mobile phone market, it probably won't have major implications soon, he says.

"This is just a steppingstone in the emergence of Linux as a potential platform for mobile phones," he says.