The bMighty ANTenna
News From Around The Web


Networking & Communications

New Moves in Mobile OS Wars: Android, Linux, and Microsoft

Monday, February 11, 2008
By bMighty.com Staff

Several new developments in mobile phone operating systems give a boost to open phone systems without doing much to clarify future market directions.

 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, sponsored by the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) Association, has seen the first prototypes of mobile handsets running Google's Android development platform. Android is an application framework that, should it be widely adopted, will enable speedier development of new mobile features and hardware.

At the same Congress, however, the LiMo Consortium, which supports mobile Linux, announced two new supporters: the Japanese Linux company Access and France Telecom's Orange. LiMo is developing an application platform, expected to debut in March; Orange announced plans for a "fully open, Linux-powered handset," while Access came out with a software development kit that will make it easier to port thousands of existing applications to the new LiMo platform.

Meanwhile, back in the States, Microsoft announced that it will acquire Danger, manufacturer of the T-Mobile Sidekick. Microsoft, of course, has a Windows Mobile operating system, while Danger uses yet another mobile OS.

The net result of all this should be to spur the arrival of one or more open mobile application platforms--good news for consumers and businesses--though we may be no closer to a "standard."

">

This week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, sponsored by the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) Association, has seen the first prototypes of mobile handsets running Google's Android development platform. Android is an application framework that, should it be widely adopted, will enable speedier development of new mobile features and hardware.

At the same Congress, however, the LiMo Consortium, which supports mobile Linux, announced two new supporters: the Japanese Linux company Access and France Telecom's Orange. LiMo is developing an application platform, expected to debut in March; Orange announced plans for a "fully open, Linux-powered handset," while Access came out with a software development kit that will make it easier to port thousands of existing applications to the new LiMo platform.

Meanwhile, back in the States, Microsoft announced that it will acquire Danger, manufacturer of the T-Mobile Sidekick. Microsoft, of course, has a Windows Mobile operating system, while Danger uses yet another mobile OS.

The net result of all this should be to spur the arrival of one or more open mobile application platforms--good news for consumers and businesses--though we may be no closer to a "standard."

Source(s): InformationWeek, CNET News, CNET News




This is a public forum. CMP Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. CMP Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers.

Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of CMP Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in CMP Media's Terms of Service.

Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business.



Browse by Category

IW SMB Tech
Term Of Day:

Boost your tech
vocabulary!
InformationWeek SMB's
TechEncyclopedia
defines more than
20,000 IT terms.



FREE Technology Services Locator!

Search our database of 200,000 solution- provider locations by business activity, technology, vertical market, and customer size. Find a technology partner NOW.

go