One of Japan's largest IT providers will resell and support Trolltech's application stack and development platform for Linux phones and PDAs. Toshiba Information Systems, the IT branch of Toshiba, will market and support Qtopia, the companies announced today.

Qtopia initially gained popularity as a mobile application environment for PDAs and palmtops such as Sharp's Zaurus and other Linux PDAs. Trolltech launched a mobile phone version in May, and its Qtopia Phone Edition (QPE) will appear in Yuhua Teltech's upcoming Normandy mobile phone and Datang Mobile's mobile phone reference platform. Trolltech's Qt/Embedded is also popular in Linux based mobile phones, such as Motorola's A760 (pictured), A780, and E680.

The Qtopia architecture comprises five components, including the platform, applications, user interface, development environment, and synchronization framework. According to Trolltech, Qtopia helps device manufacturers and service providers develop software on a common platform, while maintaining control of their own branding and user interface.

Toshiba Information Systems will resell and add value to both the Qtopia Phone Edition and Qtopia PDA Edition, as part of its $160 million Embedded Systems Solutions practice. The company's general manager of embedded systems sales, Hiroshi Kiyuna, said, “The flexible, open Linux operating system is fast emerging as a leading platform for mobile devices in Japan, and Trolltech's Qtopia is the de facto software standard for Linux-based devices.”

 
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