We've just seen another announcement about an Open Mobile Phone platform:the Openmoko Neo1973 fromFIC, Taiwan, and last month we had theTrolltech Greenphone,which is definitely now shipping to developers.With the OpenEZX project, theXDA-Developers project, and theEten G500device, the free software community is closer than ever before toowning its own commodity-hardware mobile phone platform. Now comes thehard part: actually developing a free, decent, useable mobile phone suite.
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But first, I feel that it's important to describe what exactly it is thatthe free software community really wants: they want their own mobile phone(one that is either cheap or is packed with built-in gizmos like GPS andWifi); they want to be able to download all of the free-software-licensedsource code, application suite, and the development tools, and be able tobuild the entire Operating System and its applications, for the phone,just like they can for a PC or a laptop or a PDA. And have nobodytell them that there's things that they can't do, or that they must paylicense fees, or that they are not allowed to pass on the source codeto anyone else.
What I am interested in is having some hardware which is as open as anIBM PC. After all, let's be realistic: we're talking about hardware(mobile phones) in quantities which dwarf the PC's x86 and interoperableprocessors, making the ARM design by far and above the most popularprocessor on the planet. And yet, despite the quite literally hundredsof mobile phone designs, and product numbers measuring in hundreds ofmillions, the actual number of phone designs where you, the free softwaredeveloper, can compile up and download your own kernel and applicationsuite and expect to be able to make and receive phone calls and SMSmessages can currently be measured on the fingers of a yakuza boss.
Then, there is FIC, who recently announced that the Neo1973 would be afree-software open commodity mobile phone. Sean Moko has hired someexperienced ARM-embedded community developers, one of whom is HaraldWelte, to help develop the Linux Kernel and the applications suite.The phone will be made available (release early, release often) in Januaryto free software developers. This is a significant moment, becauseFIC mass-produces phones in the hundreds of thousands per month range,allowing the cost to be around EUR $350. But the phone is not yetavailable to the public...
Then, there is Trolltech, who have made available, last month, theGreenphone - a working reference platform with a complete GPL-licensedapplications suite, and Linux Kernel. However, the Greenphone,because it is a reference platform, is not FCC-approved. It is,however, a significant step forward. Trolltech invites mobile phonemanufacturers to put down that cheque book and step away from Wince andSymbian licensing costs, and to consider dramatically lower developmentcosts and time-to-market, because the source code for the kernel andapplications is essentially free. In such a cut-throat market whereconsumers expect to pay less to get more, lowering a phone's developmentcosts, relatively small as they are, should not be underestimated. 2ff7e9595c
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