GOOGLE INC.’S OPEN HANDSET ALLIANCE has attracted plenty of attention in the hot mobile Linux space, but the LiMo Foundation is assembling an impressive coalition of its own.
Verizon Wireless last week threw its weight behind the open-source community, filling the final seat on LiMo’s board of directors and becoming the first U.S. carrier to join the alliance. The operator will make LiMo’s Linux platform its “preferred operating system,”
according to Kyle Malady, vice president of network for the nation’s No. 2 carrier, and will offer “a broad lineup” of Linux-enabled phones including low-end feature phones.
“Our intention is to have the Linux operating system prevalent throughout the device lineup,” Malady stated in a call to reporters touting the announcement. “We’ll start with a few simpler devices and work our way up as we go.”
Verizon Wireless’ first LiMo-enabled phones are expected to come to market next year.
New members
LiMo trumpeted seven other new members including Mozilla Corp., Korea’s SK Telecom and Red Bend Software, which develops over-the-air updating technology. The consortium was founded in January 2007 by six mobile players including Motorola Inc., NTT DoCoMo Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Vodafone Group plc, a partial owner of Verizon Wireless.
The move underscores the increasing competition between LiMo’s platform and Android, the software stack on which Google’s OHA is centered. While Verizon Wireless’ move doesn’t preclude the carrier from employing other operating systems – indeed, several players are members of both LiMo and the OHA – Malady was notably tepid when asked whether the carrier would offer Android-enabled phones.
“There are different operating systems in the marketplace. LiMo is going to be our platform of choice, but I expect to see that you will find OHA devices in the marketplace,” Malady stated. “Certainly there might be a segment for them and we will continue to watch that. If there comes a point where we see there’s benefit for our customers (by supporting Android), we could use that.”
Platforms on notice
While analysts say Verizon Wireless is still likely to offer Android-enabled devices – if the handsets perform well in the market – some onlookers read the move as ratcheting up the tension between Verizon Wireless and Google in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission’s 700 MHz auction. Verizon Wireless earlier shrugged off Google’s efforts to have the FCC extract a commitment from the nation’s No. 2 carrier that it will adhere to open-access requirements governing the C-Block license it won during the auction.
What the move may mean for Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW platform – which is at the heart of Verizon Wireless’ mobile content business – is uncertain. But Carl Howe, director of enterprise software research for Yankee Group, noted that while Verizon Wireless’ decision may not pose a threat to Qualcomm in the short term, it may be a shot across the bow of developers of mobile platforms in general.
“I don’t think it’s a huge deal,” Howe said of the news. “I don’t see a direct effect (on Qualcomm); there’s no reason that a LiMo phone cannot run BREW, and it’s the same with Android. But this is an attempt to undercut the revenue stream of software platform vendors for handsets. They’re saying they can get it cheaper from somebody else.”
Time to market advantage
Malady said the carrier opted for LiMo because it already has handsets on the market – the first devices were rolled out a few months ago, while the first Android phones aren’t expected until near the end of the year – and cited LiMo’s “inclusive” governing structure. Skeptics – including members of the Android camp – pointed to the carrier’s apparent about-face, noting that Verizon Wireless last year asked a federal court to shoot down newly adopted rules that would force C-Block auction winners to support any device and application that is network-compatible. But the new rules notwithstanding, any new offering still must be certified by Verizon Wireless before it is deployed. Which, of course, leaves onlookers to continue to ask, How open is open?
Open: the new black
“One can argue that open is the new black for carriers,” Howe maintained. “Everybody’s vowing that they’re more open than the other guy, yet a lot of those claims of openness ring a little hollow when you see the amount of certification and control they will still be able to wield over the handset. It’s all motherhood and apple pie right now, but at the end of the day they still get to approve what goes on their network. They still have a lot of control.”
