Global Mobile Operators Confirm Commitment to Widely Deploy LiMo Handsets

Global Mobile Operators Confirm Commitment to Widely Deploy
LiMo Handsets

LiMo Foundation's 11 Global Operator Members Represent Nearly One Billion Mobile Subscribers
LONDON, England, and TOKYO, Japan, February 9, 2009 - LiMo FoundationTM today announced commitment from six major operator members to specify and deliver handsets using LiMo PlatformTM implementations in 2009. The LiMo Platform represents the vision, inputs and best-in-breed contributions of major stakeholders from across the mobile industry, enabling operators worldwide to leverage a standard set of market-proven OS technologies across many devices while providing deeply customized experiences to their customers.
The major operators planning such deployment of LiMo devices include NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, all of which have a substantial on-going role in shaping the LiMo Platform roadmap. Further active operator participants within LiMo Foundation include KTF, SFR, SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp., Swisscom, and Telecom Italia.
The collaborative nature of LiMo's development process and the scope it provides for deep customization has attracted many major operators as it allows their individual strategies to be realized through flexible implementation, while reducing portfolio complexity, lowering cost of terminals and enabling faster deployment of innovative third party applications and services.
"The powerful commitments being made by LiMo's operator members clearly demonstrates that the LiMo Platform is delivering a highly efficient, consistent and flexible code base that can be optimized to meet the market and technical requirements of major mobile operators," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMo Foundation. "This also signals substantial growth and opportunity for OEMs and developers to create devices and applications that meet the needs of major operators."
The LiMo handsets deployed by LiMo's operator members will be based on the latest version of the LiMo Platform, which includes contributions of middleware frameworks by leading OEMs, ISVs and platform providers, as well as technologies developed by open source communities. To date 33 commercial handset models have been certified as LiMo Compliant, including 10 being displayed at Mobile World Congress by NEC and Panasonic together with new prototype models from LG Electronics and Samsung.
"The mobile industry's shift toward true openness has come another step closer to being realized and major operators from around the globe continue to back the LiMo Foundation," said Dr. Malik Kamal-Saadi, Principal Analyst of Handsets and Devices at Informa. "As more and more companies jump on the open source bandwagon, industry unification around mobile Linux is expected to gain momentum, enabling the delivery of next-generation handsets and new waves of innovative applications that will provide consumers with a truly personalized mobile web experience."

The latest LiMo Platform technologies are being showcased in handsets and toolkits at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 16-19, 2009 in booth B135, Hall 8 and booth A125, Hall 8. For full details of LiMo Foundation's presence at MWC '09 visit: http://mwc.limofoundation.org/. For observations and commentary from the show floor join LiMo's Twitter community at http://twitter.com/limofoundation. MWC attendees can see Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation speak on The Business Case for Open Source during the Mobilising Open Source conference session on Wednesday 18 February at 17:00 - 17:40 in Hall 5, Auditorium 3.

About LiMo Foundation
LiMo FoundationTM 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 LiMo Foundation, including its vision, goals, charter, guiding principles, bylaws and membership information, can be found at www.limofoundation.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LiMo Foundation Announces Key Updates to LiMo Platform

New release of LiMo Platform on-track, Members introduce Reference Implementations to streamline deployment of LiMo handsets

LONDON, England, and TOKYO, Japan, February 9, 2009 - LiMo FoundationTM, a global consortium of mobile leaders delivering an open handset platform for the whole industry, today announced that all technologies specified for the R2 release of the LiMo PlatformTM have been contributed on time and that LiMo members are introducing reference implementations that will further ease the deployment of sophisticated and differentiated LiMo devices.

"The on-time completion of R2 technology contributions and the introduction of reference implementations demonstrate the deep collaboration amongst mobile industry leaders within the LiMo ecosystem. Cooperation of this nature is unprecedented within the mobile industry and is fostered by LiMo's unique governance frameworks which promote balanced contributions and influence over the LiMo Platform," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMo Foundation. "The LiMo Reference Implementations will reduce time to market for LiMo devices while providing ample scope for deep customisation at the user interface and application layers."

The LiMo Reference Implementations will include code specified within both LiMo Platform R1 and LiMo Platform R2. This code includes source code contributions from members as well as components originating from open source communities. LiMo Reference Implementation contributors include ACCESS CO., LTD., Azingo, LG Electronics, Purple Labs and Samsung Electronics.

The latest technologies in the LiMo Platform include support for features such as advanced multimedia, location-based services, device management and enhanced security. The latest documentation on the LiMo Platform as well as other technical resources can be found on LiMo's website at www.limofoundation.org.

"ACCESS is fully committed to LiMo's vision of a collaboratively developed middleware platform and we were pleased to make a very significant code contribution to help ensure that LiMo meets this goal in a rapid manner," said Dr. Tomihisa Kamada, president and co-CEO of ACCESS CO., LTD. "The LiMo Reference Implementations coupled with new technologies contributed in the R2 Platform will usher in a variety of highly compelling mobile devices and applications.

"Azingo is pleased to contribute mobile Internet technologies to the LiMo Platform to help accelerate the delivery of advanced Web 2.0 experiences," said Mahesh Veerina, CEO, Azingo. "Azingo is committed to actively participate and work with other members to realize LiMo's core mission."

"LiMo is driving convergence and preventing fragmentation by enabling managed collaboration to take place under the security of LiMo's IP safe harbor and related governance constructs," said Alice Ryu, vice president, LG Electronics. "LG is pleased to have been alongside other LiMo members to implement reference implementations that will bring tangible benefit to all LiMo members and the broader mobile community."

"Samsung is pleased to work within the growing LiMo community to collectively create a reference implementation that can be used by all companies in the mobile industry that are keen to create and distribute a LiMo-based mobile device," said SP Yoon, vice president, Software Center, Samsung Electronics. "For the true promise of Mobile Linux to be realized, companies must work together to create a common set of technologies that can be equitably implemented across an array of devices, while still leaving room for a differentiated user experience."

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.

The latest LiMo Platform technologies are being showcased in handsets and toolkits at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 16-19, 2009 in booth B135, Hall 8 and booth A125, Hall 8. For full details of LiMo Foundation's presence at MWC '09 visit: http://mwc.limofoundation.org/. For observations and commentary from the show floor join LiMo's Twitter community at http://twitter.com/limofoundation. MWC attendees can see Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation speak on The Business Case for Open Source during the Mobilising Open Source conference session on Wednesday 18 February at 17:00 - 17:40 in Hall 5, Auditorium 3.

About LiMo Foundation
LiMo FoundationTM 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 LiMo Foundation, including its vision, goals, charter, guiding principles, bylaws and membership information, can be found at www.limofoundation.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LiMo Foundation Endorses OMTP BONDI Specification to Bring Web 2.0 Applications to LiMo Handsets

Applications from millions of Web developers to run seamlessly on LiMo devices

LONDON, England, and TOKYO, Japan, February 9, 2009 - LiMo FoundationTM, the global consortium of mobile leaders delivering a common handset platform based on Linux for the whole mobile industry, today announced that it endorses the OMTP BONDI specification and that it expects future LiMo handsets using a web runtime to support the BONDI specification. When implemented within a mobile device, the BONDI specification allows diverse web applications (widgets) to consistently leverage native functionality on mobile handsets, such as calendar, camera or contact services.

The mobile industry has lacked a common specification that allows for easy re-use and portability of web applications and widgets-often forcing developers to repeatedly re-write their code in order for their program to run on the many different types of mobile handsets. BONDI creates a common interface between these applications and the underlying handset functionality to ensure seamless deployment of innovative web applications. Any web engine or browser can use the BONDI open interfaces, to enable Web 2.0 applications and widgets to easily use the powerful capabilities of today's mobile devices.

"LiMo is strategically committed to enabling the mobile Internet as a rich experience for mass consumers and helping web developers to fully and broadly realize their ideas within mobile in an efficient way," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. "We are pleased to endorse the OMTP BONDI specification as part of this strategy and hope to encourage the very large pool of web development talent to bring new and innovative services to LiMo devices."

"Today's announcement by LiMo Foundation to support BONDI makes it clear how important it is to bring consistency and security to web applications as they migrate from fixed platforms to mobile devices," said Tim Raby, managing director of OMTP. "The well defined BONDI interfaces and security model ensure that developers will have the best possible way of addressing their applications to the widest range of devices."

With BONDI supported in LiMo devices, web developers will be able to write web applications and widgets that run on all handsets that implement the LiMo web runtime. To date, 33 LiMo handset models have been brought to the hands of consumers, and LiMo's global operators including NTT DOCOMO, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone have confirmed their commitment to specify and deploy a further array of handsets in 2009.

"Openness and collaboration are two of the guiding principles of LiMo Foundation, and today's announcement is another example of how leading companies from the mobile industry can work together for the broader benefit of mobile developers and consumers," said Kiyohito Nagata, senior vice president, NTT DOCOMO and chairperson, LiMo Foundation. "LiMo's support of the BONDI specification and web runtime will allow software developers to create web applications that run across all LiMo handsets-creating great business opportunity and more compelling device, application, and service offerings for consumers worldwide."

More information on BONDI can be found at http://www.omtp.org/bondi/, or by visiting the BONDI demonstration pod at the Mobile Application Developer Garage on Monday 16th February at Mobile World Congress in Auditorium 3, Hall 5.

The latest LiMo PlatformTM technologies are being showcased in handsets and toolkits at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 16-19, 2009 in booth B135, Hall 8 and booth A125, Hall 8. For full details of LiMo Foundation's presence at MWC '09 visit: http://mwc.limofoundation.org/. For observations and commentary from the show floor join LiMo's Twitter community at http://twitter.com/limofoundation. MWC attendees can see Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation speak on The Business Case for Open Source during the Mobilising Open Source conference session on Wednesday, 18 February at 17:00 - 17:40 in Hall 5, Auditorium 3.

About LiMo Foundation
LiMo FoundationTM 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 LiMo Foundation, including its vision, goals, charter, guiding principles, bylaws and membership information, can be found at www.limofoundation.org.