Linux-based Qtopia phones en route
There's been a bit of trickle-through of Linux phones and portable devices (usually based on the
Qtopia platform) despite the dense fog of
Pocket PC,
Smartphone,
Symbian, and
Palm devices, and Qtopia creator Trolltech seems to
think this is going to be the year of Linux on mobile
devices—they claim to have more than 20 new cellphone makers onboard for Qtopia based phone software, and another 30 on
for their PDA software release. Among the big names listed
(Samsung, Philips, Ningbo Bird, Archos, TI) we can
definitely expect Motorola to be big player with the Qtopia platform in light of their recent partnership with
MontaVista, which brought embedded Linux to their i.MX1 and i.MXL (DragonBall) processors (the chips that run many of
their phones). So if 2004 was the year Windows
Mobile really hit the big time, will 2005 be the year of the Linux mobile device? Only Tux time will
tell.
[Via LinuxDevices]
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Carmi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM
It is interesting how this announcement comes around the same time as Microsoft announces its Flextronics announcement. Clearly, everyone is interested in driving the price point down so that the market can evolve from its current premium/early adopter stage.
Linux-based offerings stand a greater chance of making this happen because the open source model includes an inherently more reasonable price structure. It gives vendors more room to play because they need not concern themselves with Microsoft's traditionally fatter OS margins.
Yet I wouldn't count Microsoft out, either. They usually gain traction by the third iteration. They did it with Windows CE/Pocket PC, and there's no reason to believe they won't figure it out with the third generation of their smartphone platform. They won't idly stand by and get trounced by open source, even if, unlike desktops and servers, they haven't been traditionally strong here.
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com
Joey Geraci @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM
Fight to the death...
The bird against the pane
Fight!
Andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 1:04AM
I think we will see a Skype announcement similiar to the imate PPC smartphone of earlier this week, for Linux handhelds shortly...