Hooorrrraaayyyy! The penguin has started calling! Why wait for Google Android when Freerunner is already here?
FreeRunner is Openmoko’s Linux-based smartphone designed to encourage third-party modification and customization. The handset is completely open in both hardware and software. While the FreeRunner’s software platform is still incomplete, the device has attracted attention from mobile software developers and Linux enthusiasts. In fact, it was launched last Friday but the 900MHz version has sold out and the demand is still high.
Google have delayed the launch of the much awaited Gphone because of handset issues. The Gphone or Android as what others are calling it, is a mobile phone/smartphone powered by an operating system Google has helped design. It is initially scheduled for release in the second half of the year, but it is more likely to appear in the fourth quarter. Since Google has contributed to the operating system, a group of around 30 different partners have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders. Meanwhile Google is continuing to woo software developers who, it hopes, will make applications that owners of Android handsets can download from the internet.
Nokia announced a plan to acquire the 52% remaining Symbian shares it doesn’t already own and make the platform open source under the Eclipse open source license. Nokia have also announced the creation of the Symbian Foundation, which is an alliance of mobile vendors and application providers that any company can join. This move will definitely challenge Android, the open source operating system of Google. The Symbian is the operating system of Nokia’s smartphones and other mobile phone hardware manufacturers.
All of the major Symbian stakeholders like Sony Ericsson, Siemens, and Panasonic have accepted Nokia’s offer. The three companies represent almost 91% of the Symbian shares. Although Samsung, another Symbian stakeholder has no definitive answer from Nokia’s offer, Nokia expects them to accept its offer.
“This is a significant milestone in our software strategy” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia. “Symbian is already the leading open platform for mobile devices. Through this acquisition and the establishment of the Symbian Foundation, it will undisputedly be the most attractive platform for mobile innovation. This will drive the development of new and compelling, web-enabled applications to delight a new generation of consumers.”
Read the announcement here
Microsoft announced that they will update their Windows Mobile platform called Windows Mobile 6.1. The update will include e-mail, web access with the new “zoom capability” to view an entire page or a portion of a web page, instant messaging, traffic updates, photo capabilities, music and the ability to edit documents.
The update also features a new “Getting Started Center” that will help you simplify the configuration of e-mail, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices. The update also features Adobe Flash support, H.264, and Silverlight support allowing you to play YouTube videos using your mobile. Microsoft Live search engine has been added in the update.
The LiMo Foundation has announced the on-schedule availability of LiMo Platform Release 1. The LiMo Platform is the world’s first globally competitive, Linux-based software platform for mobile devices.
“With Release 1 of the LiMo Platform now completed, LiMo Foundation has established a scalable and sustainable mobile device platform that will spur rapid innovation and contributions from all LiMo members,” said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. “This is an extremely exciting time to be a part of the LiMo Foundation - in slightly more than one year, we have rolled out our deliverables on schedule, our membership has continued to grow strongly with broad engagement from across the mobile communications industry, and leading handset providers have already released a range of devices using LiMo technology.”
The LiMo Platform-leveraging standards and open-source projects-is a modular, plug-in, hardware-independent architecture built around an open operating system, with a secure run-time environment for support of downloaded applications. All of the enabling technology within Release 1-created by the foundation’s Founder members-has now been commercially deployed and proven within multiple handsets enjoyed by consumers today, as well as in several reference and pilot devices that will be on the market later this year. This represents hundreds of millions of dollars of technology investment to date.
Third-party developers can use LiMo’s application programming interface (API) specifications-available now at www.limofoundation.org to build new applications that deliver next-generation consumer experiences across a tremendous, stable base of globally deployed mobile devices. Middleware components for the LiMo Platform can be implemented in either C or C++ programming languages. Software Development Kits for Native, Webkit and Java operating environments will be released from the second half of 2008, further empowering mobile application developers.
Google released a new version of the software developer kit (SDK) for its Android Mobile Phone Operating System. The new SDK incorporates new features like new user interface, a geocoder that lets developers search for businesses as well as translate an address into a coordinate and vice versa, support for new media codecs, and code that lets developers create layout animations.
However, Google’s lack of updates to the telephony package within Android is a major cause of disappointment to some Android developers.
With all of these updates from Google, Android faces competition from the established mobile operating systems as well as companies that have rallied behind LiMo, the consortium that is developing an open Linux mobile operating system.
