MontaVista releases new Linux-based mobile phone OS
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(InfoWorld) - MontaVista Software planned to announce on Wednesday the latest version of its Linux-based mobile phone operating system, expected to be available in November. MontaVista's MobilinuxÂ 5.0 includes a number of updates, such as improved security, better power management tools, support for various types of connectivity such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on USB (Universal Serial Bus) dongles, and faster startup times. MontaVista says its operating system runs 90 percent of existing Linux-based smartphones. But competition is heating up for the software developer, since analysts have been predicting dramaticÂ growth for mobile LinuxÂ and a number of new consortiums are working on interoperability issues. ABI Research, for example, recently said that it expects cumulative Linux mobile device shipments between 2006 and 2012 to reach 331 million. Mobilinux 5.0's new features help set it apart from other Linux operating systems out there, said Dan Cauchy, director of product marketing for MontaVista. For example, the new OS includes a miniaturized version of SELinux, the security technology developed by the U.S. National Security Agency. The MontaVista version, MicroSELinux, enables role-based access control so users with different security levels can use a single device running Mobilinux. The new version also includes improvements to the software's dynamic power management capabilities. Mobilinux 5.0 includes APIs (application programming Interfaces) so developers can make use of the power management capabilities. In tests, MontaVista applied the power management techniques to MP3 playback on a phone so the device would almost shut off between MP3 packets, said Cauchy. The process allowed the phone to play MP3 songs five times as long as the same phone without the power management technology, he said. The new OS also improves on device startup times, MontaVista said. Mobilinux 5.0 phones typically boot in less than five seconds. The software is small too, MontaVista said. A basic implementation can be done in less than 14M bytes. Mobilinux 5.0 also includes another upgrade that should please developers, the executives said. MontaVista has added the capability to debug over USB. Normally, developers debug over a serial line, but most mobile devices don't have serial ports anymore, Cauchy said. That means developers often have to use a special test environment in order to debug. "We've been badgered by customers to do this, honestly, because it's such a limit without," said Jim Ready, CTO and founder of MontaVista. "This lets them debug on a real phone as opposed to in a lab." Mobilinux 5.0 includes support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi over USB as well as SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output), which can save developers time developing such support, MontaVista said. The OS will be available in November and initially will support Texas Instruments' OMAP 2430 chips followed by OMAP 3430. Other chips will follow in 2008, MontaVista said.
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Today at 3GSM in Barcelona, LiMo announced the release of a software development kit with the ultimate goal of providing developers with a completely open, Linux-based alternative to other mobile operating systems.
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Japanese electronics giants NEC Corp. and Panasonic Mobile Communications said they have jointly developed a Linux-based software platform which offers third-generation mobile phones-users more services on their handsets.
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(InfoWorld) - Despite signs that mobile Linux is gaining momentum -- such as the launch ofÂ Motorola's Linux-based Razr2Â -- heated competition, confusion about goals, and slow-moving consortiums may be hindering growth. These developments are an indication of how much may be at stake. Between 2006 and 2012, cumulative Linux mobile device shipments are expected to reach 331 million, said Stuart Carlaw, an analyst with ABI Research. Such predictions are drawing interest to the segment from handset manufacturers, software developers, and carriers. The LiMo Foundation, the Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS), and the Open Source Development Labs' Mobile Linux Initiative are among the new groups formed over the past couple of years to try to reduce the fragmentation in the mobile Linux market and to encourage interoperability. But at least one mobile Linux vendor is critical of their progress. "They're still trying to figure out where to hold meetings," said Jim Ready, CTO and founder of MontaVista, of the activities of some of the groups. Progress at organizations like LiMo has been extremely slow, agreed Dan Cauchy, director of product marketing at MontaVista. "I'm concerned about what that will mean to the actual marketplace because each member company is building phones regardless," he said. Phone makers and software developers don't want to wait for the groups to decide on platforms and standards so they continue to make products that may not ultimately conform to the parameters set by the groups or interoperate, he said. Mobile phones are already plagued with interoperability issues that make it difficult for applications to run properly on all handsets. This problem hurts users interested in applications that are incompatible with their handsets. Also affected are software developers who have to make multiple versions of the same application for different handsets. Some operators, including Vodafone, have said they will soon require that all of their handsets run only two or three specific operating systems as a way to ensure that applications will work across all phones. The operators don't want to introduce Linux devices into their lineup of phones if they only exacerbate the interoperability problem. While MontaVista is active in many of the groups, it is also continuing to work closely with handset makers to meet their needs. According to Cauchy, 90 percent of mobile Linux devices--including Motorola's Razr2--are running MontaVista Linux. Confusion about goals in the industry could also be dragging down progress. "It's clear that the leading operators are telling the industry to consolidate," said Jason Whitmire, general manager of mobile solutions for Wind River, a Linux software developer with products for mobile phone vendors. "They expect to use only one OS stack or maybe two, so they have asked the industry to join together and do something." By his count, there are 22 different flavors of mobile Linux. But MontaVista has a different perspective. "Some of these consortiums are under the impression that they'll provide one stack to satisfy the world and I think carriers are saying, 'I don't think so'," said Cauchy. Choice is one of the main reasons driving the mobile Linux industry. In an ironic twist, Symbian, the mobile phone operating system, was first created by a group of mobile phone makers that feared that Microsoft, which had just entered the mobile market, might dominate like it did in the PC industry. But more recently, Symbian has begun to dominate the smart phone market enough that mobile operators wanted to be sure they had another choice, Carlaw said. Mobile Linux is an attempt to ensure that Microsoft and Symbian aren't the only options, he said. "The whole point is to have choice and alternatives," said Ready. "It's because of this paranoia about having one supplier ... that's why these consortiums show up." Too much choice, however, has been causing problems. At a mobile Linux conference in Madrid this week, fragmentation was a key concern particularly among smaller operators, Whitmire said. Without consolidation, they see costs related to supporting mobile Linux soaring, he said. Wind River, MontaVista, and others have one less potential competitor to worry about. During a keynote presentation at the Madrid conference, Red Hat said it has no intention of entering the embedded device Linux market. Fragmentation is an issue in mobile Linux, but some advancements are happening, Carlaw said. He's seen real progress in terms of different layers of the stack working together. It's been more difficult to improve on "horizontal" fragmentation. But that's starting to get better too, he said. For example, the LiPS Forum recently began working with the Open Mobile Alliance to improve interoperability both between mobile Linux devices and between Linux and non-Linux phones. It's natural to have this amount of fragmentation at this stage of the market development, and companies appear to have the incentive to continue to work it out, he said. "Carriers are still saying they're looking at Linux as a long-term prospect," he said.
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But Android is nowhere to be seen OpenMoko, the open source Linux platform designed for mobile phones, has found its way into a connected GPS device as well as a consumer-friendly mobile phone, showing what Google's Android could do if OpenMoko wasn't already doing it.â¦
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Although the long-time smartphone maker will "continue to focus around core business initiatives," it's still unknown whether these initiatives will include a new home-grown, Linux-based version of the Palm OS.
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Another mobile Linux platform, this time from Azingo, hit the market on Wednesday, joining an increasingly crowded market of Linux phone software.Formerly called Celunite, Azingo aims to differentiate itself from the crowd by offering phone makers an entire package, including kernel, middleware, applications, development tools, and integration services.&quot;Mobile Linux has failed because there&#39;s a big integration problem,&quot; said Michael Mclaughlin, marketing director at Azingo. &quot;People come with piece parts.&quot;For example, companies such as&#160;MontaVista&#160;and Wind River make mobile Linux kernels, while others&#160;such as&#160;Trolltech, purchased by Nokia&#160;just this week, make application development environments. Phone makers typically must buy the different components, then struggle to integrate them. That puts mobile Linux at a disadvantage against some other mobile platforms,&#160;such as&#160;Windows Mobile, which comes complete, he said.Azingo is offering a complete suite of mobile Linux software but will also help customers integrate different pieces if they choose components from different vendors, said Mclaughlin.The applications Azingo offers as part of the platform include Web widgets that can deliver information such as weather and traffic, entertainment applications such as video and audio players, and productivity software&#160;such as&#160;e-mail.Azingo hasn&#39;t announced any deals with handset makers planning to use its software. Mclaughlin said the company has been working with some of the well-known vendors and expects handsets running its software to ship in the fourth quarter.The company isn&#39;t the only one offering the market a complete suite of mobile Linux software.&#160;A La Mobile has a similar approach, using some of its own software and integrating components from other vendors, including Trolltech. GUPP Technologies, a Malaysian company, announced in 2006 that it would use A La Mobile&#39;s platform.Azingo will also compete against&#160;Android, Google&#39;s high-profile Linux-based mobile phone operating platform, which includes an operating system, middleware, and applications. Android phones are expected to become available in the second half of this year.Azingo is a member of the&#160;LiMo Foundation, a group founded by Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Samsung, and others to build a mobile Linux platform.
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The next great mobile hope for Linux, the Neo1973, has arrived. Wired News has a first look at the most promising open source alternative to the iPhone.
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NEC Corporation and Panasonic Mobile announced that they have developed a Linux-based software platform for third-generation (3G) mobile phones.
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Blog: This ambitious suite will go beyond basic antivirus and firewall protection for your mobile device.
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TOKYO &amp; SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)â22 Novembre 2004--MontaVista Software, Inc., a annoncÃ© ce jour que le systÃ¨me d&#39;exploitation MontaVista(R) Linux(R) avait Ã©tÃ© retenu pour Ã©quiper trois des nouveaux tÃ©lÃ©phones mobiles de troisiÃ¨me
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PalmSource finally unveiled its new OS, version 1.1 of Palm OS Cobalt, as &quot;the first PalmOS designed specifically to support phones&quot;.
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MontaVista proposes a modification that could help boost the operating system for cell phones and GPS receivers.
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PalmSource ha presentato ufficialmente Cobalt 6.1, sistema operativo sviluppato e dedicato per dispositivi smartphone e wireless. Il nuovo sistema operativo integra componenti per la telefonia GSM e GPRS e
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A new interface and expanded file format support are among the new development tools for Google's mobile phone operating system.
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PalmSource is to create a new version of the Palm OS with Linux at its core, the company said today after announcing a plan to buy Chinese phone software company China MobileSoft (CMS&#39;).
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PARIS On Tuesday, PalmSource, the maker of the Palm operating system for hand-held devices, is scheduled to announce its first operating system designed specifically for smart phones, mobile phones that allow you to not only make voice calls but also use