NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest mobile phone carrier, Wednesday expects to complete a $3 million investment in Linux software development company MontaVista Software, a DoCoMo spokeswoman said.
The investment is part of the carrier’s plans to assist Japanese handset vendors develop more models that use the Linux operating system, said spokeswoman Tomoko Tsuda.
“The investment will help us have a direct relationship with MontaVista so they can help mobile phone makers get products to the market faster,” she said.
MontaVista, in Sunnyvale, Calif., provides an open source Linux-based operating system platform that can be used in electronic devices.
DoCoMo is encouraging vendors to adopt either Linux or the Symbian operating system on the new 3G phones that they make for the carrier and some have already done so.
In November, two of Japan’s major handset vendors, NEC and Panasonic Mobile Communications, released 3G models that use MontaVista’s Linux operating system. Both NEC and Panasonic said they intend to release more Linux operating system-based models.
Among other Japanese vendors, Fujitsu is a major supporter of Symbian and has released a number of models using Symbian operating system.
NTT DoCoMo has developed a common software platform that can run on both Linux and Symbian operating systems. The platform consists of middleware, customized modules for the operating systems, sample device drivers, sample application software, handset emulator software for personal computers, and development guidelines.
