Mobile Linux More Configurable?
Montavista has partnered with SKY MobileMedia, Bluefin Mobile and Digital Airways to demonstrate an integrated mobile Linux phone solution.
According to LinuxDevices, the Mobilinux Open Framework is being sold as being much more configurable (for network operators and phone OEMs) than Symbian or Windows Mobile…
The real question is whether this is really a good thing. Do we need such diversification of phones? From a consumer perspective, it would be great to offer people the ‘exact’ phone that matches their lifestyle.
However, what’s the cost? Can retail outlets cope with selling a greater variety of phones? i.e. Can they understand (and sell) the differences? Can network operator customer support centres deal with enquiries for a multitude of phones? Can application developers support all platform variants? Can test houses test the variety of hardware and software?
Even with so called ’standard’ development platforms such as Symbian and J2ME there’s a complex variety of phone capability due to phone platforms being enhanced over time. Add phone evolution changes to to an ‘open, modular’ Linux based platform and things might just become unmanageable.
