Several companies including Texas Instruments (TI) and ZTE have joined the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum, the group announced on Monday. Other new members include antivirus software developer McAfee and Spreadtrum Communications, a semiconductor company. Purple Labs and Longcheer Holdings, both mobile handset designers, also joined. Telecom Italia SpA was named as a new member; its mobile arm, TIM Italia, was one of the early members of the forum.The LiPS Forum is one of several mobile Linux groups launched over the past year. The forum aims to standardize Linux services and application programming interfaces (APIs) to help spur the growth of Linux on mobile phones. TI has been attending LiPS Forum meetings as an observer since the group’s launch last year, said Loic Hamon, director of strategic marketing for TI’s wireless business unit. The company became involved, he said, in part due to its close relationship with France Telecom, one of the founders of the forum and an active participant in the emerging mobile Linux industry. Operators and phone makers have increasingly been working to push smart phones into the mass market, and supporters say Linux can help them do that. TI last year began selling a new chipset platform aimed at enabling operating systems such as Symbian, Microsoft and Linux to run on low-cost, mass-market phones, Hamon said. TI is interested in other mobile Linux groups as well, but hasn’t publicly made announcements about joining them, he said. Late last year, the Open Source Development Labs started the Mobile Linux Initiative to work on optimizing the Linux operating system for handheld devices. In June, a group of companies including Motorola, Vodafone Group, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung Electronics, NEC and Panasonic Mobile Communications formed a consortium focused on the development and marketing of an API, specification, architecture and source reference for Linux phones.-Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau)Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Freshworks When your AI chatbots mess up AI ‘hallucinations’ present significant business risks, but new types of guardrails can keep them from doing serious damage By Paul Gillin Dec 08, 2023 4 mins Generative AI brandpost Sponsored by Dell New research: How IT leaders drive business benefits by accelerating device refresh strategies Security leaders have particular concerns that older devices are more vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. By Laura McEwan Dec 08, 2023 3 mins Infrastructure Management case study Toyota transforms IT service desk with gen AI To help promote insourcing and quality control, Toyota Motor North America is leveraging generative AI for HR and IT service desk requests. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 08, 2023 7 mins Employee Experience Generative AI ICT Partners feature CSM certification: Costs, requirements, and all you need to know The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification sets the standard for establishing Scrum theory, developing practical applications and rules, and leading teams and stakeholders through the development process. By Moira Alexander Dec 08, 2023 8 mins Certifications IT Skills Project Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe