LiMo Foundation(TM), a global consortium of
mobile leaders delivering an open handset platform for the whole
industry, today announced the on-schedule availability in March 2008 of
the first release of the LiMo Platform-the first globally competitive,
Linux-based software platform for mobile handsets-together with the
immediate public availability of the application programming interface
(API) specifications.
LiMo's technology will be showcased in Booth 8b135, Hall 8 at Mobile World Congress (www.mobileworldcongress.com [1]), February 11-14 in Barcelona.
"The LiMo Platform is being readied by mobile leaders working in
unison to deliver an open handset platform for use by the whole
industry," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMo
Foundation. "The first release of the LiMo Platform combines
technologies already extensively market proven within an array of
leading handsets. This will enable initial LiMo handsets to register in
the marketplace far more rapidly than handsets based on unproven
technology. In addition, we are now making the platform APIs freely
available to the public in order to begin the widespread engagement of
developer talent and innovation that will shape the new mobile consumer
experiences of tomorrow."
LiMo's initial Founder members -- Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo,
Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone --
collaborated on Release 1 (R1), and nearly all of the enabling
technology within R1 has been commercially deployed and proven within
handsets enjoyed by consumers today.
"We are very proud of the transparent, balanced and harmonious
contribution process that led to the on-schedule rollout of R1 of the
LiMo platform and our API specifications. This unique process -- with
its shared leadership and decision-making -- has delivered the benefits
of both community-based and proprietary development," said Kiyohito
Nagata of NTT DoCoMo, chairperson of LiMo Foundation. "The evolution of
the platform is an ongoing process. We are delighted with the wide
range companies contributing to that process as we now work on Release
2."
The LiMo Platform-leveraging standards and open-source projects --
is a modular, plug-in-based, hardware-independent architecture built
around an open operating system, with a secure run-time environment for
support of downloaded applications. Linux was selected as the core
technology for the LiMo Platform for its acceptability by the whole
mobile industry, its rich functionality and scalability, its record of
success in embedded systems and mobile phones and its potential to
easily "cross-platformize" with other product categories.
"With LiMo announcing the first release of the platform that is
common across many handset vendors and models, the stage is set for
mobile innovation on Linux," said Guido Arnone, Director of Terminals
Technology, Vodafone, and vice chairperson of LiMo Foundation. "The
LiMo Platform enables operators and handset makers to assign greater
investment to technologies that improve the consumer experience and
technology vendors and ISVs to target their products for a software
platform that is being broadly adopted by the whole industry."
Third-party developers will use LiMo's API specifications -- available in beta form immediately at www.limofoundation.org [2]
-- 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.
Launched in January 2007, the LiMo Foundation is open to all
vendors and service providers in the mobile communications marketplace,
including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers,
independent software vendors, integrators and third-party developers.
About LiMo Foundation(TM)
LiMo Foundation is a dedicated consortium of mobile industry
leaders working together within an open and transparent governance
model -- with shared leadership and shared decision making -- to
deliver an open and globally consistent handset software platform based
upon Mobile Linux for use by the whole mobile industry. A full
description of the foundation, including the vision, goals, charter and
membership information, can be found at www.limofoundation.org [3].