Software Suite Aims to Speed Linux Phone Development

Trolltech is offering a suite of products designed to make it easier for mobile phone makers to develop Linux-based smart phones.

Called the Qtopia Greensuite, it aims to unify the disjointed mobile Linux development environment by bundling together several applications and tools that are available separately today from a variety of vendors.

The products in the suite include RealNetworks’ mobile multimedia software, Opera Software ASA’s mobile phone browser, MontaVista Software’s operating system and Mimer Information Technology’s SQL database management product.

The suit also includes wireless application protocol and HTML browsers, messaging software, video- and audio-recording capabilities, digital rights management, 3-D graphics, video telephony, voice-over-IP support, a VPN client and Java mobile information device profile.

The applications come pre-integrated with Qtopia Phone edition, Trolltech’s application development platform for Linux phones. Phone makers that use the suite will save time developing their products because they won’t have to integrate all of the software components themselves, Trolltech said.

The first version of the suite is due in the second quarter next year. It uses Qtopia’s Greenphone as the hardware platform for developing and testing applications. Qtopia introduced the phone, which can operate on a live mobile Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service network, in August.

Qtopia Greensuite will be demonstrated at the ITU World Telecom 2006 show, which starts Dec. 4 in Hong Kong. No pricing has been announced yet.

While interest in mobile Linux is growing around the world, the disjointed development environment has slowed momentum. Several groups have formed in the past couple of years to try to unify the environment.

The Linux Phone Standards Forum, whose members include France Telecom, MontaVista and VirtualLogix, is creating application program interfaces to allow applications to interoperate across Linux handsets. The Mobile Linux Initiative, started by the Open Source Development Labs with members including Motorola, Intel and NEC, is unifying developments around the mobile Linux kernel.

Forty mobile phone makers including Motorola and ZTE use Qtopia. Motorola is one of the biggest mobile handset makers using Linux, which is most popular as a mobile phone operating system in China.

-Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau)

Related Links:

• New Companies Join Linux Phone Group

• New Linux Phone Encourages App Development

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