Mobile Linux platform to take on Google’s android
GOOGLE’S LINUX-BASED mobile phone platform, Android, isn’t the only game in town. Th e Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS) has fi nished the fi rst version of its mobile specifi cation. Th e specifi cation now includes APIs (application programming interfaces) for telephony, messaging, calendar, and instant messaging functions, as well as new user-interface components. The various mobile Linux groups are trying to accomplish the same thing, according to Bill Weinberg, general manager for LiPS. “[We] are all attempting to unify… a fragmented market, but we’re going about it in different fashions,” he says.
LiPS isn’t meant to be a complete phone offering, says Weinberg, but it should provide some features that competing platforms don’t. The telephony API is a particularly important component, because it will allow developers to create various voice-telephony applications; as a result, an online phone book could off er, for instance, one-click dialing—a capability that developers don’t anticipate having access to on Apple’s iPhone. Weinberg expects to see commercial phones using the standard soon.
Leave a Reply