Verizon Prefers Linux to Android for Mobile Platform
Verizon Wireless confirmed its support for mobile Linux. It becomes the first U.S. operator to join the LiMo Foundation, a group developing mobile Linux technology. Key members include Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung, and LG.
Kyle Malady, Verizon’s VP-network, said in a conference call this morning that Linux will be added to the platforms Verizon already supports, including Windows Mobile, Palm (NSDQ: PALM) and Brew. It does not mention the No. 2 carrier from joining Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) Android platform in the future, Malady said.
“We anticipate that as we move down the path of Linux, we’ll be looking at it as the OS of choice in handset lineup moving forward,” he said.
The LiMo platform includes a wide range of infrastructure components and high-level application reference implementations and is designed so that individual parts can be easily modified or replaced. The application user interface framework is built on top of GTK+, the widget toolkit used by the GNOME desktop environment. In addition to supporting native application development, LiMo will also offer a Java SDK and support for building widget-like applications in HTML and JavaScript on top of the WebKit HTML renderer. The first LiMo-based handsets will be available later this year.
Google’s Android platform offers a higher level of consistency and interoperability because its application stack is built with a single cohesive API on top of a managed code system, but it doesn’t support native applications, which means that it is less flexible.
Regardless of the platform choice, Verizon’s adoption of Linux sends a clear message about the viability of the open source operating system in the mobile space. Carriers and handset makers seem to recognize that open source software provides them with better value and more flexibility than proprietary alternatives.
Courtesy: Ars Technica
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