Azingo deal shows Vodafone has not turned its back on LiMo

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Azingo deal shows Vodafone has not turned its back on LiMo

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 9 February, 2009

READ MORE: Vodafone

Google's marketing machine may have convinced casual observers that Android is now the only mobile Linux game in town, but in reality it remains immature and many operators and developers remain focused on the main alternative, LiMo, which has a more mature set of features so far. Vodafone, a founder member of the LiMo Foundation, appeared to have sounded the deathknell last fall when it joined Android's Open Handset Alliance, but it certainly has not given up on its first Linux love, and last week signed a deal with applications house Azingo to develop a set of LiMo apps for Vodafone's rapidly expanding software platform.

The giant cellco is determined to create a mobile web 'experience' that is highly differentiated and integrated with its own handsets, as a counterpoint to vendor-driven software like Android or Nokia Series 60. Within Android, it is likely - like its close ally China Mobile - to create its own variant rather than stick to the vanilla interfaces and services promoted by Google. And it may still find LiMo a richer platform, and an easier one to turn to its own business objectives. There is even the possibility for Vodafone to work on allowing Android runtimes to run on LiMo handsets, reducing Linux fragmentation and diluting the power of any single vendor.

The search for a standards-based operating system that was not dominated by one vendor had led Vodafone to take a guiding hand in the formation of the LiMo Foundation, which now has 48 members and 15 handsets. Linux (of all flavours) is expected to ship in 500m cellphones by 2014 (boosted by popularity in China.

Vodafone did not reveal much about what Azingo would develop, and Guido Arnone, director of terminals technology, just said: "We're looking forward to working with Azingo's agile development teams to develop and deliver innovative communications solutions for our customers."