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Linux has always been on the mobile operating system radar, but a spate of announcements and industry developments over the past few months has ignited a huge resurgence of interest. This rise of Linux is one of the topics covered in a whitepaper released this week by ARCchart titled "Mobile Operating Systems: The New Generation".

Historically, Linux as a mobile operating system has been something of a misnomer, since a productised end-to-end Linux OS (in a similar vain to Window Mobile and Symbian OS) has not existed. While companies like MontaVista specialise in embedded Linux kernels, the reality is that the kernel constitutes a tiny part of a complete OS distribution required by a mobile phone; a large number of closed source components and proprietary patches have to be added. This is one reason why pointing to the existence of a large Linux developer community is redundant in the context of handset applications, since there is no standardized Linux application environment for these developers to code for.

However, this situation is changing and the renewed momentum behind Linux has partly been fuelled by announcements from several vendors of complete technology productisation and support services for Linux handsets. These are essentially mobile Linux distributions that integrate an entire software stack for phones and provide essential services such as software customisation, interoperability testing and certification. A la Mobile, Purple Labs, Aplix's BTO offering and Access Linux Platform, all announced in 1H06, are the first commercial vendors of these productized Linux offerings.

Perhaps the most significant development has been Motorola's revelation of its love affair with Linux: a relationship which Greg Besio, Corporate VP at Motorola, reiterated at MAPOS. While Motorola has always been fairly vocal of its interest in Linux, it has recently turned positively evangelical; although this evangelism must be taken with a pinch of salt since the company has an impressive track record of finding spiritual enlightenment with operating systems. In 1998, Motorola saw the light with Symbian (taking a 23% stake in the newly formed company) and again with Window Mobile in 2003. Combined with its internal JUIX platform and its commitment to AJAR following its acquisition of TTPCom, Motorola seems prepared to climb into bed with just about anything with OS stamped on it.

Admittedly, Motorola's flirtations with Linux seem more genuine. According to Besio, Linux will power more than half of Motorola's phones within the next two years, as part of the company's long-term plan to consolidate handset software development into fewer platforms. The manufacturer has already shipped 5 million Linux-based phones as of early 2006, with most running Trolltech's Qtopia UI framework.

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