The Linux Mobile Foundation Unveils Handsets from Major OEM's

BARCELONA, Spain – The LiMo Foundation has unveiled the first wave of handsets using the LiMo Platform — the world's first globally competitive, Linux-based software platform for mobile devices. Initial LiMo handsets are today confirmed by handset industry leaders including LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Samsung.

"The breadth of the initial wave of LiMo handsets — 18 models from 7 vendors — consolidates LiMo's role as the unifying force within Mobile Linux and highlights the strong momentum established in the 12 months since LiMo was launched," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMo Foundation. "Within one year, LiMo has secured powerful industry engagement, announced the on-schedule availability of the LiMo Platform and is today registering the first generation of handsets using LiMo Platform technology. We believe our rapid progress is propelled by LiMo's inclusive and transparent governance model — with shared leadership and shared decision making — and pragmatic, code-centric approach to open-source innovation."

MOTO Z6w

Commercial LiMo handsets being announced today are:

• MOTO U9, MOTO Z6w, MOTOROKR Z6, RAZR2 V8, RAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition and MOTOROKR E8 from Motorola;
• NTT DoCoMo FOMA N905i, FOMA N905"mu", FOMA N705i and FOMA N705"mu" from NEC;
• NTT DoCoMo FOMA P905i, FOMA P905iTV, FOMA P705i and FOMA P705"mu" from Panasonic Mobile Communications, and
• SGH-i800 from Samsung.

Prototype and reference handsets being announced today are:

• LG LiMo Phone from LG Electronics,
• OPAL(m) from Aplix and
• Purple Magic from Purple Labs.

"We look forward to the continued, rapid rollout of LiMo handsets, further expanding LiMo's market reach and unifying the Mobile Linux ecosystem," said Kiyohito Nagata of NTT DoCoMo, chairperson of LiMo Foundation. "The mobile industry is embracing Linux and openness as the key enablers of lower device development costs, increased flexibility and quicker time to market for innovative services of all kinds. LiMo Foundation is driving these trends."

The LiMo Foundation has also rolled out of a comprehensive Software Development Kit (SDK) strategy encompassing Native, Java and Webkit SDKs.

"Announcing a further strong wave of new LiMo members and 18 initial LiMo handsets from 7 vendors at Mobile World Congress demonstrates that LiMo has attracted wide industry engagement since its launch one year ago," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of LiMo Foundation. "With the lineup of prestigious mobile industry leaders and innovators that now stands behind the platform, LiMo is positioned at the heart of an open mobile ecosystem that will connect developers with mobile consumers across all markets. LiMo's open approach and broad SDK strategy recognizes the diverse strengths and talents of existing open developer communities — empowering a diverse set of developers to innovate successfully within the mobile communications marketplace."

LiMo's SDK suite will roll out from H2 2008 and provide common Eclipse-based tooling environments for supporting widespread development of software for LiMo handsets coming to market from Q4 2008. It will enable mobile software suppliers to concentrate on developing their own value-added technologies, while enabling developers to explore and work with advanced programming models within an open-source environment. The SDK suite is being readied by LiMo board members, including ACCESS CO. LTD, Aplix Corporation, Azingo, Motorola and Wind River, and further strategic SDK partners will be announced in the near future.

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. LiMo's application programming interface (API) specifications are available now at www.limofoundation.org.

LiMo's technology will be showcased in Booth 8b135, Hall 8 at Mobile World Congress, February 11-14 in Barcelona.