A number of companies aim to make Linux as common in smartphones as the Symbian platform. Two such companies include embedded Linux vendor MontaVista and Trolltech with its Qtopia Linux platform.

MontaVista recently announced a program to help it advance the penetration of Linux into the cell phone market, while Trolltech declared that its Qtopia Linux platform is now being used by over 50 vendors to design, build, or ship devices and related software for embedded Linux. Of these, more than 20 companies are mobile phone designers and manufacturers.

The Mobilinux Open Framework Program is a compilation of different mobile software components taken from different vendors all pulled into one reference architecture to produce software for a mobile Linux phone.

The software components are all ports designed to run on top of the MontaVista Linux operating system and will run on a variety of semiconductor platforms. MontaVista claims that the initiative already has the support of vendors like PalmSource, Texas Instruments, ARM, Openware, Intel, and numerous others.

Though the program was only officially announced today, there are already at least seven phones powered by Mobilinux from vendors Motorola, NEC and Panasonic, according to company.

Motorola A780 Source: Mobilinux

Back in November 2004, MontaVista and NEC announced a partnership to extend the Linux into NEC's consumer electronic devices. At the time there was no specific mention of the Mobilinux framework.

Motorola's MontaVista cell phone integration began in March 2003 when it announced the Motorola A760 cell phone.

Both the Motorola A760 and A780 use Linux components from vendor Trolltech, whose qt cross-platform software development framework also underpins the KDE Linux desktop.

"Our handset customers view Linux as a strategic platform enabling them to differentiate their phones and meet increasingly complex operator specifications," said Jim Ready, CEO of MontaVista, in a statement. "The Mobilinux program creates an open framework that helps solve the challenge of integrating disparate hardware and software components from a diverse group of vendors."

At the end of January, MontaVista announced a partnership with Esmertec to run Esmertec's J2ME platform on top of MontaVista's Linux OS. The companies said they will market the combination to wireless semiconductor and mobile handset vendors.

Qtopia
Trolltec's Qtopia is Linux-based customizable development environment and user interface for mobile phones and PDAs. It is demonstrating the platform at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France this week.

Company's levarging Qtopia include Samsung Electronics and Infineon with a new reference platform, China's Ningbo Bird for new mobile phones, Leadtek Research for videophones and other devices, the aforementioned Motorola handsets, and Texas Instruments for its OMAP processor. Other vendors include Philips Semiconductors, Yuhua TelTech, Datang Mobile Communications, Enteos, ARCHOS, among others.

Trolltech asserts Qtopia's success is signaling a surge in the market for handsets built on the popular open source Linux operating system.

Trolltech CEO Haavard Nord says, "The large number of leading organizations that are building new phones and other technologies on Linux and Qtopia will dispel any lingering doubt that Linux is going to be a core platform for mobile devices. 2005 will be an important year for embedded Linux, and we are pleased that Qtopia is quickly becoming the standard software platform for Linux devices, allowing vendors to customize and innovate to an extent that was previously not possible."