Mobile Java specialist Aplix is helping Japanese wireless operator Softbank Mobile create a standard application environment for five mobile phone operating systems, including Linux. The “Portable Open Platform Initiative” (POP-i) aims to help Softbank improve the timeliness and consistency of multimedia services across its heterogeneous phone product lines.

OSes to be supported by POP-i include Linux, EMP OPA (Ericsson Mobile Platforms Open Platform API), Windows Mobile, Qualcomm AMSS/BREW, and Symbian, Aplix said.

Aplix is best known as a provider of Java environments for mobile phones and other portable devices; hence, POP-i will likely include a Java runtime.

For better multimedia performance, POP-i also appears to include native C-language APIs. These are to be based on OpenKode, a royalty free, cross-platform specification delivered by the Khronos Group earlier this year, and described as an “open” alternative to Microsoft's DirectX API collection.

Before (left) and after OpenKode
(Click each image to enlarge; source: Khronos Group)
Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank Mobile, stated, “The introduction of a common software platform co-developed with Aplix will make it easy to incorporate the diverse range [of] platforms being adopted by handset manufacturers.”

Hiroshi Ohta, GM of product and service development at Softbank Mobile, added, “Because of its comprehensive scope of multi-media sources, including 2D/3D graphics, audio and video, OpenKODE can help us set a stage for innovative, rich content offerings.”

Neil Trevett, Khronos Group president, stated, “We expect that many operating systems and handset software platforms will adopt OpenKODE to provide state-of-the-art media and graphics acceleration, significantly reducing industry fragmentation and enabling a new class of native applications.”

No timeframe for delivery of POP-i was announced. OpenKode 1.0 is available now in provisional form from the Khronos Group website, here.

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