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Most of the companies involved already have considerable experience implementing Linux for mobile phones. NEC and Panasonic have long collaborated on a Linux implementation for 3G Linux phones sold by NTT DoCoMo. DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, adopted Linux for 3G phones in late 2003. Motorola, meanwhile, was among the first phone vendors to add Linux to its strategic roadmap, and it has since shipped about a dozen Linux-based phone models.

The companies plan to create an "independent foundation," as yet unnamed. The foundation will develop and market an open Linux implementation, including an API specification, architecture, and source code-based reference implementations of components and tools. It will also publish specifications for referenced third party software, along with test suites aimed at helping adopters assess and demonstrate product conformance to the platform specification.

Additional goals of the foundation include:

• Implement a fair, balanced, transparent contribution and participation process for current and future members
  
• Establish safeguards to minimize fragmentation
  
• Collaborate on a mobile Linux developer ecosystem
  
• Coordinate with existing industry organizations
  
• Seek participation from all interested companies across the value chain, including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers, independent software vendors, integrators and third-party developers

The unnamed foundation is by no means the first industry group aiming to standardize Linux for use on mobile phones. Recent notable efforts include LiPS (Linux Phone Standards) and the OSDL-sponsored Mobile Linux Initiative, as well as Scope, which focuses on standardizing Linux on the infrastructure side. However, this new group appears to comprise the most successful mobile phone Linux users to date, and as a result, could have a large impact on Linux adoption and standardization.
Interestingly, the new foundation does not appear to include MontaVista, the company that supplied the Linux OS used in mobile phones from Motorola, NEC, and Panasonic. MontaVista early last year launched its own "Mobilinux" ecosystem for mobile phone Linux.

Brandon Langston
GRLT.com
"Tech with a twist of lime!"