Six mobile giants, including handset makers Motorola, Samsung, NEC and Panasonic and operators Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo plan to create an independent foundation to foster the development of an open Linux-software platform for wireless handsets. The goal is to build Linux-based phones cheaper and faster for the manufacturers, and reduce the number of Linux platforms to test and certify from several down to one for carriers.

Once established, the organization will eventually provide an application programming interface (API) specification, architecture, references to open source code, new source code-based reference implementation components and specifications for referenced third party software. It also plans to deliver a test suite to assess and demonstrate product conformance to the platform specification.

Although founding members are primarily responsible for delivery of the development of the mobile operating platform, they will also actively seek the participation from all interested companies, including other device manufacturers and operators, but also chipset manufacturers, independent software vendors, integrators and third-party developers.

The as-of-yet unnamed organization wants to create a collaborative environment that established safeguards to minimize Linux fragmentation. Motorola alone has already shipped some five million Linux-based mobile handsets. The most notable recent smartphone from the number two mobile phone vendor is the sleek Ming in Hong Kong. There's also the ROKR E2 music phone, for example.

Other handset makers have created phones based on Linux as well. NEC says it has moved 8 million in Japan, for instance. And the platform is particularly popular in the Chinese market.

The problem is that each device-maker must build - in essence - its own mobile OS on the Linux kernel for their own cell phones and smartphones. So even though it's open source, a Linux-built smartphone is, today, almost a proprietary OS or closed system.

This leads to the fragmentation mentioned above. And it is why so-called open platforms like Windows Mobile and Symbian are generally, right now, so much more attractive to operators, device makers and end users. You create an application for one S60 smartphone, for instance, and it'll run on all of them. The same can't be said for Linux devices today.

"The bigger cost saving elements will come from removing the number of small fragmented proprietary platforms and reducing long lead times for new services," Vodafone platform development director, Patrick Chomet, told Reuters.

The group of six would like to create a Linux OS that pulls components from open source, as each handset maker's 'proprietary' Linux platform does, but can stand on its own and run on a variety of phones across different device vendors be easily verified for a carriers network through standardization.

"We're developing a complete platform," Motorola VP of ecosystem and market development Christy Wyatt explained to ZDNet. "So instead of everyone developing products based on a published specification or standard, we'll be innovating and developing a whole platform with our peers."

To Wyatt, what the new group is doing is a step beyond what two additional Linux groups launched within the past year have done. Other recently launched Linux organizations include the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum and the Mobile Linux Initiative (MLI). Both focused on creating standards and specifications rather than a full-on OS.

The aim of LiPS, whose membership includes PalmSource, France Telecom/Orange, and Montavista, is to write APIs, create new services and standards and to spread the use of Linux in smartphones and other mobile devices.

MLI, with members that include Intel, British Telecom, PalmSource and Motorola, Monta Vista Software, Trolltech and Wind River, is an offshoot of Open Source Development Labs. It is part of an effort to jump-start the adoption of mobile Linux by drawing in developers and bridging the gap between the Linux platform and mobile device needs: power management, real-time capabilities, security, memory usage, faster boot times and a multi-media framework.

Yet another Linux standards committee is the CELF (Consumer Electronics Linux Forum).

The closest we've come to what Motorola, Samsung, NEC, Panasonic, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo would like to do is PalmSource's introduction of its Access Linux Platform (ALP) for smartphones back in February and the unveiling of the Convergent Linux Platform from startup a la Mobile today. Both are full-fledged Linux operating systems for mobile devices in the mode of what the six companies above would like to accomplish.

Looks like the field of unavailable 'open' Linux platforms is getting pretty crowded.

As with PalmSource's ALP platform, handsets built on the Motorola, Samsung, NEC, Panasonic, Vodafone, and NTT DoCoMo aren't expected until the end of next year.

a la Linux
a la Mobile President & CEO Pauline Lo Alker told PDAStreet, version 1.0 of her company's mobile platform will ship in September. In other words, she claims her company will be the first to put it all together. They are a member of LiPS and support the standards of CELF and MLI.

"The desire for a trusted alternative to proprietary mobile operating systems is perhaps the handset industry's worst-kept secret. Our Convergent Linux Platform is the first solution to actualize this desire, ending the proprietary chokehold on handset innovation. Our goal is to help accelerate Linux-based phones' time-to-market while contributing to the overall cause of the broader Linux and open-source community," Alker said to PDAStreet.

Should a la Mobile score manufacturer customers, the device makers will be able to take Convergent Linux the way it is or customize it. Vendor’s have already expressed interest, according to Alker. And she expects a smartphone based their platform to hit the streets sometime next year.

Between now and then a la Mobile will install their stack on sample smartphone. The company will show it off at Linux World in San Francisco this August.

At the center of a la Mobile's Convergent Linux Platform is its Hardware Mobility Engine and Network Mobility Engine. The company says the Hardware Mobility Engine enables a tested software suite in binary form (operating system and applications) to move across different hardware platforms without porting or diminishing performance.

With it, handset manufacturers can quickly develop a family of handsets by utilizing the same underlying binary software stack for all models. This is supposed to drastically accelerate time-to-market; ensuring software compatibility and interoperability across a product line.

The company says the Network Mobility Engine provides a policy-based framework for the seamless handover of IP-based services (voice, data and video) between network transports without requiring any modification in the network infrastructure or the IP applications. Based on a la Mobile's Multi-Mode IPT technology, it gives a network operator the flexibility to deliver IP services based on a pre-defined set of policies, such as available network service, best costs, or application bandwidth requirements, a la Mobile says . It also allows for automatic selection of appropriate network transport when service is acquired or lost.

Version 1.0 of Convergent Linux will include configurable components like applications (PIM, browser etc.), frameworks (interface, multimedia), User Interface (Icons, Decoration, Branding), Low Level System (Device Management, Synchronization, DRM).

Specific software integrated from third-party and open-source partners include Linux Kernel 2.6, GSM/GPRS solution from HelloSoft, firmware over the air (FOTA) solution from Red Bend, Qtopia application framework and UI from Trolltech, Browser, Messenger and multimedia framework from Obigo AB, Flash, and incorporated with Java ME.