Support for Access Linux Platform waning in the wake of Android?

Without much fanfare, the Samsung i800 was canned at the tail end of last month. When asked why, Orange simply noted that it was pulled in order to "prepare a more competitive Linux mobile." A recent writeup at Ostatic takes a hard look at whether this simple withdrawal is really a sign of things to come, and it suggests that ALP could see support fade as the major players in Linux (and maybe even Nokia) step to the plate. One analyst was even quoted as saying that "having Google's brand behind Symbian could very well mean 'game over' for mobile Linux in the mobile phone market," and we honestly can't disagree too vehemently with that assertion. Of course, the LiMo Foundation has stated its intentions to not back down from the mighty Google, but sometimes, even the best intentions fall through. Guess time will tell, huh?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

[Johan S @ Aug 17th 2008 9:12PM]

There needs to be a decent iPhone Safari competitor first. When is mozilla releasing a beta or even alpha of Fennec? When I say release I dont mean "download and compile" like they have now.

Fennec is looking good though.

[Wormbolt @ Aug 17th 2008 9:34PM]

Android will have WebKit just like the iPhone does.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Aug 17th 2008 10:04PM]

Competitor? Lol, Skyfire crushes Safari.

[YH Kwon @ Aug 17th 2008 11:28PM]

You know ACCESS is also a well-known vendor for their browser, Netfront, which must be a strong competitor in the market as i understand.

[loosely_coupled @ Aug 18th 2008 5:16AM]

Common misconception here...

WebKit is just a rendering engine. It will render the webpage correctly in memory, but everything else is up to the browser implementation. the iPhone's mobile Safari is a hell of a lot more than just webkit -- The optimized bitmap rendering at different depth levels, the intelligent double-tap zooming, the smooth touch panning, etc. And you can bet they spent a hell of a lot of time optimizing the display engine for performance on the ARM and low memory consumption. It's going to be a big challenge for Google, Nokia, Microsoft, RIM, etc to meet the responsiveness and smoothness of the iPhone.

However, if Google gets Android together and makes a browser just as good, and god forbid HIRES A CAPABLE UI DESIGNER (hint: see KDE 4.0), They may provide serious competition the iPhone, especially if HTC, Samsung, or Sony can create a killer device for Verizon, Sprint and Tmobile!

[Freakin Ijit @ Aug 17th 2008 9:17PM]

In the original story about Orange canceling out from the Access Samsung, the source (Orange rep?) said they were going to wait for a "LiMo" phone. Access is a member of LiMo so there IS still a smidgen of hope for them (no, =I= don't believe that but it IS believable!).

[apple fanboy @ Aug 17th 2008 9:29PM]

ill just take my iphone thank u

[ldrn @ Aug 17th 2008 9:37PM]

But the iPhone kills you.

[Pinetreehater @ Aug 17th 2008 10:10PM]

I just keep my tilt and wait until a delicious rom is cooked up.

[BChau @ Aug 17th 2008 9:53PM]

Meanwhile, I am very happy with my HTC Touch Diamond running on WM6.1. Does everything and everything well.

[Zorque @ Aug 17th 2008 9:58PM]

As long as someone programs a legacy PalmOS emulator for Android, I'd be fine with PalmOS 2 never coming out.

[Christian Walters @ Aug 17th 2008 10:20PM]

ssssuuuuurrrreeeee it is!

[aaron @ Aug 17th 2008 10:26PM]

You're just fishing for responses. I shouldn't have even replied......

[BobfromVegas @ Aug 17th 2008 10:38PM]

Its true!

[OziD @ Aug 17th 2008 11:45PM]

ALP = "Palm OS 2.0" ?

Or is Palm's new OS developed in house? I know the history behind the two I am wondering though.

ALP would have made the centro a much better phone, IMO. The part I hate the most about this thing is how drab looking it is.

[OziD @ Aug 17th 2008 11:45PM]

Drab UI wise... the phone itself is pretty dull, but acceptable.

[Daspl @ Aug 18th 2008 5:36AM]

Really? Does anyone else think the expectations surrounding android are a bit much? I mean, the popular consensus is that a company that isn't in the business of making operating systems is going to come out of nowhere and make something better than an entrenched company who's primary business is just that. Not to say that they couldn't but as of right now, android has a lot to prove.

tl;dr
LOL hype

[Chris @ Aug 18th 2008 6:49AM]

You seem to be a bit confused here. While it's true that Google isn't in the business of making operating systems, they ARE in the business of making software. Not so coincidentally, Google isn't making the operating system for the Andriod platform. It's based on linux, which basically means most of the operating system has already been written. Also not so coincidental, is the fact that Google is quite good at making software.

I'll assume you're talking about Apple when you mention the "entrenched" company. Google couldn't give a flying F about Apple. Hell, Google doesn't even give a flying F about Microsoft, or Yahoo, or any other software GIANT for that matter. You can think Apple is significant all you want, but the truth is that Google is many times more powerful than Microsoft, who really are the only "entrenched" software company. Up until a couple years ago Apple was nothing but a niche, joke company.

[Matthew @ Aug 19th 2008 5:58PM]

"having Google's brand behind Symbian could very well mean 'game over' for mobile Linux in the mobile phone market,"

WTF? Android IS mobile Linux for crying out loud.