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LiMO and Moblin 2.0 muddy the mobile OS waters further
Published: 20 May, 2009
Harmony in the mobile OS market looks more like a mirage every day. A day after Intel and Nokia came closer together over oFono, new wrinkles have emerged in the simple vision of Symbian/Android/Java (with supporting acts from Apple, Windows and BlackBerry). These come in the shape of a renewed challenge from the LiMO Foundation, and the release of the new version of Intel's Linux-based Moblin.
LiMO is the main alternative to Android in the mobile Linux field, but lacks Google's PR impact, and has primarily achieved commercial breakthroughs in Japan. Its heavy hitting operator supporter, Vodafone, is hedging its bets between LiMO and Android, and now there are new bidders for the smartphone Linux crown, including Moblin and Palm WebOS. Undeterred, LiMO says it will grow its share of the mobile OS market, adding 10 members and launching 20 phones this year.
"What we are seeing is that the economic conditions are amplifying the importance of a differentiated consumer experience," LiMO Foundation chief Morgan Gillis told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in Tokyo this week. "So the freedom that LiMo provides to the operator to put its own brand and its own experience onto the device is extremely important because it allows differentiation."
So far, over 30 LiMO models are available, including phones from NEC, Panasonic, and Motorola, and Samsung plans one later this year. Gillis, like many observers, believes the industry will consolidate around three fully fledged mobile OSs, each with 20%-40% share, but is bullish enough to put LiMO in that number alongside Symbian and Android.
Symbian currently has 47% share and the chief of its new open source Foundation, Lee Williams, is also seeing the smartphone future through rosy glasses. He predicted that overall smartphone sales would grow by 12-15% this year, despite the recession. Also speaking at the Tokyo event, he said sales are driven by the all-purpose nature of many smartphones, incorporating cameras, email and multimedia, and by larger display sizes and increased memory. Williams expects membership of his Foundation to grow to more than 100, excluding independent software vendors, by the end of the year, up from 78.
Meanwhile, Intel announced the beta release of Moblin 2.0, tuned up for netbooks and mobile internet devices, and with its sights on phones. Doug Fisher, general manager of Intel's software and services group, told Techworld the chipmaker would ensure that "every ounce" of technology in its Atom platform, including Moblin, was optimized for size and power consumption. Moblin 2.0 comes with a new user interface, more suited to small screens and aggregating many social networks.
Two-year old Moblin OS was put into a non-profit Linux Foundation by Intel last month to broaden its reach. In netbooks, there are even more Linux choices than in smartphones, including Canonical's new version of Ubuntu, Netbook Remix (also called Jaunty Jackalope), and GoodOS gOS3.
