Mobile Phone Makers Turn To Linux

Most mobile phones run operating systems from Symbian or Microsoft, both of which cost money to license. Some mobile-phone makers and service providers are developing an alternative: a new version of Linux for smart phones and pocket PCs that will ship in 2007.

Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, and Vodafone have a lot of ground to make up. About 15.1 million smart phones and pocket PCs run Windows and 106 million run Symbian, research firm iSuppli says. Only 12.6 million use Linux. Still, wider use of the open source code could attract a new set of developers, which should benefit customers and equipment makers.