Japanese Consortium to Develop Platform for Symbian and Linux Phones

Published on: 26th Apr 2010

A collection of Japanese companies have announced an agreement to jointly develop a new application platform for mobile phones that will be compatible with both the Symbian and Linux operating systems. Commercial launch of mobile phones incorporating the new platform is scheduled for late 2011 to early 2012.

The backers of the new initiative include: NTT DoCoMo, Renesas Electronics, Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic Mobile and Sharp.

The group says that the new platform will offer improved processing speeds for high-quality video and enhanced 3D graphics processing for advanced mobile multimedia functions.

All six companies will utilize their expertise in mobile phone development based on their respective experiences in using existing platforms for either Symbian or Linux. In particular, the new platform will enable mobile phone manufacturers Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Sharp to avoid having to develop basic application-processing functions on their own, thereby allowing them to significantly reduce development time and costs and conversely invest more time and resources in the development of manufacturer-specific handset features.

The platform is planned to be offered to mobile phone manufacturers worldwide.

Compatibility with open operating systems such as Android also is under consideration.

 

Tags: [symbian]  [linux]  [docomo]  [fujitsu]  [sharp]  [nec]  [renesas electronics]  [panasonic]  [video]  [3d]  [renesas]  [Japan]