This EDC whitepaper explores the progress and prospects of Linux in the mobile phone market, examining major vendors, application development trends, geographic factors, and Linux drivers/inhibitors. Although commissioned by PalmSource, it appears to take a balanced view of the market, drawing upon several prior EDC surveys.

Highlights of the report, which is reproduced in its entirety here at LinuxDevices.com, include:

• A sharp rise during the Spring of 2006 in the number of mobile application developers targeting Linux, as depicted in the above graphic (click here for larger view)
• The “widening” field of mobile Linux stack vendors, characterized as pureplays, diversifiers, and dabblers
• Mobile developers across all major geographic regions are “equally compelled” to write applications for Linux, despite the relative shortage of devices in North America, as compared to Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe.
• OEMs, VARS, integrators, and department-focused enterprise engineers are most likely to target Linux, while ISVs (independent software vendors) and “corporate-wide” enterprise engineers are less likely to do so.
• Linux use in wireless devices has grown much faster than predicted, and, allowing for some inhibitors such as a lack of cohesive standards, the future for Linux in mobile phones is “brighter than ever”

Click here to read the complete whitepaper:

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.