A start-up incubator will host a free conference for Moblin and Android developers, Jan. 29 in Santa Clara, Calif. The Girvan Institute's “Mobile Internet Developers Conference” is billed as the first in a series of developer-focused conferences tailored for the demands of the “global economic downturn.”

The event will cover the latest on the Linux-based, Intel-sponsored Moblin development environment. It will also include information on Girvan's “expanded incubator-based support for startups,” Girvan says. Although targeted primarily at developers, the event will also be relevant to entrepreneurs and investors, says Girvan.

The Moblin-based BenQ S6 MID (Click for details)

The Girvan event arrives at an interesting time for Moblin. Earlier this week, the Moblin Project released an alpha version of its second-generation “Moblin V2” toolkit — and it targets netbooks initially, rather than the originally intended target: Intel's mobile Internet device (MID) format. The Moblin V2 Core Alpha for Netbooks should arrive in beta in May, says Mobin.org.

Equally interesting is the Girvan Institute's phrasing of the invite, which appears to refer to future events covering Android development on an Intel Atom platform. In recent weeks rumors have been floating around about a Google project to develop an Android version targeted at netbooks.

MID-life crisis?

The news that Moblin V2 for Netbooks will take precedence over Moblin for MIDs, which is now postponed until 2010, inspired a somewhat anguished response from the UMPC Portal blog today. MIDs based on Moblin 1.0, such as the BenQ S6 (pictured above) are shipping now, but what had looked to be a flood of new products has slowed to a quiet stream. Instead, netbooks now own the day.

WiBrain i1 MID (Click for details)

Among other interesting observations in the blog by “Chippy,” is that abandoned MID developers might instead move to Android or even, gulp, Windows XP. Two other Linux-rooted platforms — Nokia's Maemo, and the handset-oriented LiMo Platform — have also been identified in one study as possible MID platforms, yet Maemo is already running on Nokia's own MID-like N8xx Internet Tablets, and not much has been heard from the LiMo Foundation since T-Mobile's triumphant release of the Android-based HTC G1 phone in October.

Meanwhile, movers and shakers like the Linux Foundation's Jim Zemlin are now suggesting that Moblin 2.0 could be a game changer across the mobile device spectrum. And there's still plenty of buzz leftover from CES about Palm's Pre phone and Linux-based WebOS distribution, both due to ship this Spring. In the past, Palm has spanned handset and mobile device platforms with a single operating system.

In short, it's a wondrous, agonizing, and highly confusing time to be a mobile device developer. So what else is new?

The Moblin conference will also showcase the non-profit Girvan Institute's new Mobile Internet Developer Center, and will unveil technology from the “promising start-ups” who are resident in Girvan's Los Angeles and Santa Clara facilities, says the Institute. Established in 2002, the Girvan Institute is sponsored by The Aerospace Corp., which offers a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) for the United States Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office, supporting national-security space programs. The non-profit Girvan Institute was created to “facilitate the transfer, development and commercialization of technologies and to foster the growth of early-stage high-tech companies,” says the institute.

Availability

The free, Moblin-focused “Mobile Internet Developers Conference” conference will be held on Thursday, Jan. 29, from 4:30PM to 8PM at the Girvan Institute of Technology, 3940 Freedom Circle, in Santa Clara, Calif. More information may be found Moblin 2.0 alpha posted -- and targets netbooks