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LiMo gains support of six cellco majors for updated platform
Published: 10 February, 2009
The LiMo Foundation, the main alternative to Android in the Mobile Linux world, has been kicking its way out from the shadows of Google this week. It will use the Mobile World Congress to show off its latest platform and supporters, and take the opportunity to convince the world it is not only still alive and kicking, but has a more mature offering than its rival.
LiMo gained a boost from one of its key founders, Vodafone, last week, when the operator - which joined Android's Open Handset Alliance last fall - confirmed it was still developing LiMo apps. Now the Foundation says the second release of its platform is on target and will be unveiled in Barcelona next week, while members are already introducing reference implementations.
The upgraded version, says LiMo, has two key objectives - improved ease of deployment and strong support for Web 2.0 features. Amid much speculation that key operators like Vodafone will pressurize LiMo and Android to integrate their offerings - most cellcos want to reduce the number of operating systems they support - the Foundation is keen to avoid the idea of a head-on collision with Google. Instead, it says it focuses mainly on middleware - a clear hint that, in theory at least, it could work with other OSs.
Among the contributors to the code for LiMo Platform R2 were Access, Azingo, LG, Purple Labs and Samsung, and the Foundation will now also endorse the Bondi specifications from the operator driven OMTP (Open Mobile Terminal Platform), which allows web apps to use native phone functionality such as contact lists, and cameras.
Six operators have gone public with plans to specify and deliver LiMo R2 phones this year. These are NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. Other operator members of LiMo include KTF, SFR, Softbank, Swisscom, and Telecom Italia.
