VZW throws support behind LiMo

Google Inc.’s Open Handset Alliance has attracted plenty of attention in the mobile Linux space, but the LiMo Foundation is assembling an impressive coalition of its own.
Verizon Wireless has thrown its weight behind the open-source community, filling the final seat on LiMo’s board of directors and becoming the first U.S. carrier to join the alliance. Verizon Wireless will make LiMo’s Linux platform its “preferred operating system,” according to Kyle Malady, VP of network for the operator, and will offer “a broad lineup” of Linux-enabled phones including low-end feature phones.
“Our intention is to have the Linux operating system prevalent throughout the device lineup,” Malady said in a conference call, adding that the first LiMo-enabled devices from Verizon Wireless will hit the market next year. “We’ll start with a few simpler devices and work our way up as we go.”
LiMo secured seven other new members including Mozilla Corp., Korea’s SK Telecom and Red Bend Software. The consortium was founded in January 2007 by six mobile players including Motorola Inc., NTT DoCoMo Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Vodafone Group plc, which partially owns Verizon Wireless.
The move underscores the increasing competition between LiMo’s platform and Android, the software stack on which Google’s OHA is centered. While Verizon Wireless’ move doesn’t preclude the carrier from employing other operating systems – indeed, several players are members of both LiMo and the OHA – Malady was notably tepid when asked whether the carrier would offer Android-enabled phones.
“There are different operating systems in the marketplace. LiMo is going to be our platform of choice, but I expect to see that you will find OHA devices in the marketplace,” Malady stated. “Certainly there might be a segment for them and we will continue to watch that. If there comes to be a point where we see there’s benefit for our customers (by supporting Android), we could use that.”
And the news steps up the tension between Verizon Wireless and Google in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission’s 700 MHz auction. Verizon Wireless last week shrugged off Google’s efforts to have the FCC extract a commitment from the No. 2 carrier that it will adhere to open-access requirements governing the C-Block licenses Verizon Wireless won during the auction.