There has been a lot of noise in recent months about the various alliances that are forming in the mobile community rallying around the power of Linux. Most notably, Google’s Open Handset Alliance and Motorola’s LiMo Foundation have been in the limelight.

Although both consortiums are fundamentally different in their approaches, they both have the same end goal in taking down Microsoft in the mobile space. There is a real conundrum for the “anyone but Microsoft” crowd because if there isn’t going to be one company that counters Microsoft, then how do an aggregate of companies counter them in a way that’s coordinated? In fairness to Google and LiMo, that’s exactly what both consortiums are trying to do.

If you think about it, it makes complete sense. Where does Microsoft’s power on the desktop come from? It comes from the tyranny of all of the applications that run on Microsoft operating systems. That’s why it’s been impossible for Linux to displace Windows on the desktop.

With Android, Google has transferred that line of thinking from the desktop to the mobile device space. As it is with the desktop, the mobile computing space is once again all about the application. Google’s positioning on Android has made it all about having an environment where you can have lively, unpredictable application development because you never know where the next killer app is going to come from. So they’re trying to foster that in mobile computing, and everything else that they’re doing is a means to that end.

LiMo’s focus is arguably not as succinct, although in the end LiMo is still trying to do the same thing. However, I don’t think LiMo is as clearly focused as Google on the sole benefit being the application. Whereas LiMo has a broader focus, they are using different paths to the same end.

How much of an effect will LiMo or Google have on the mobile industry in 2008? That’s hard to say, especially since both appear to be a long way from releasing an actual product to the market. I will say, however, that MontaVista will come to market with real product in that space before either alliance does.

Even though MontaVista happily cooperates with LiMo and Google, I’m willing to bet that moving fast and getting a lot of units out there will be more defining than anything else. Who will be right? The market will dictate the answer to that, but it will be interesting to watch things as they unfold.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 9:05 am and is filed under Embedded Linux.