NTT DoCoMo Buys 11.66% of Palm OS

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2005/12/ntt-docomo-buys-1166-of-palm-os-watch.html' target='_blank'>http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2005/12/ntt-docomo-buys-1166-of-palm-os-watch.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"...at the end of November, NTT DoCoMo announced that it is raising its investment in Access Corp to 11.66% of the company's stock. That's right, the same Access that just bought PalmSource. So DoCoMo, one of the world's most powerful operators, now owns 11.66% of Palm OS and the upcoming Palm OS for Linux. This story got passing mentions on some Palm OS bulletin boards, but I didn't see anything about it anywhere else."</i><br /><br />I wonder how many phones we will eventually see out there with Linux. For those who don't know (or care) Linux is essentially Unix. My first PC was a Unix box. Anyone remember the HP9807 Integral? I digress. I am curious to see how much affect this will have on the Linux phone market. Thoughts?

[Rebecca]

Linux is an OS designed for Servers and large scale computers. It will never work well on phones.

[Jerry Raia]

Linux is an OS designed for Servers and large scale computers. It will never work well on phones.

Don't know about that. If I'm not mistaken Tivo runs on Linux.

[Stinger]

NTT DoCoMo won't use Palm OS on their phones - it's not their style.

They take the basic components of Linux and Symbian and add a lot of their own work to it, especially when it comes to the UI.

Perhaps Access will license a Palm-less Linux to NTT DoCmo?

[freitasm]

"...This story got passing mentions on some Palm OS bulletin boards, but I didn't see anything about it anywhere else." Or Geekzone, an hour after the press release. Oh, he doesn't read Geekzone :lol:.

Seriously though, NTT DoCoMo runs Symbian in some of their FOMA handhelds, but Access Netfront is the standard browser for all of their handsets - I think they're not buying more (they already had some) shares of Access Corp because of Palm or Linux.

Access Netfront is used as an embedded browser in top sets, feature mobile phones, Symbian S60, Palm and Windows Mobile devices - the last is probably the smallest portion of the pie.

No, it's not the Linux OS (NTT DoCoMo - Access - Palm). It's just the browser.

[Jerry Raia]

Thanks for shedding some light on this. :)

[Mike Mace]

Or Geekzone, an hour after the press release. Oh, he doesn't read Geekzone

Fair enough. I just subscribed to your feed.

I don't think any of us knows exactly what Access and DoCoMo are doing together, and my point wasn't to hype Palm OS. What I'm trying to do is educate people about how different the mobile OS competition looks in different parts of the world. There's intense interest in mobile Linux in Asia, and a lot of companies willing to invest money in it. Considering how much of the world's mobile hardware is built in Asia, I think that's a trend worth watching.

Mike

[freitasm]

I've subscribed to your blog now - impressive CV on you...

[edgar]

I agree with Freitsm.

PIE sucks so bad, Opera is so so.

Netfront is really nice, with flash, multiple windows, j2me, etc support. I used 3.2 until I got a HP 4700. Best darn browser out there. They would get alot of converts if they packaged this browser.

Anyone try v 3.3 Tech preview yet? They just released the RC, good until Jan 31, 06.

To paraphrase a political campaign - Its the browser stupid.

[Jerry Raia]

There's intense interest in mobile Linux in Asia, and a lot of companies willing to invest money in it. Considering how much of the world's mobile hardware is built in Asia, I think that's a trend worth watching.

Mike

I totally agree. Welcome to the site. :)

[robertotores]

If I'm not mistaken Tivo runs on Linux.

You can't compare Tivo to a phone. The Tivo hardware is simmilar to PCs.

Linux requres a lot of battery/processor power. Tha't why Linux based phones are doing so poorly. Also unlike Windows Mobile it is not designed to run on small devices and it is not user friendly (command line anyone)

Yes I do know you can use a GUI like KDE or Gnome, but still you must do some things in command line inorder for Nix systems to work.

[Jerry Raia]

Yes you are right. I only brought it up because of a post saying it only runs on servers etc.

[Mike Mace]

Linux requres a lot of battery/processor power. Tha't why Linux based phones are doing so poorly. Also unlike Windows Mobile it is not designed to run on small devices and it is not user friendly (command line anyone)

Interesting. That's almost exactly what people said about Microsoft's mobile software six years ago.

Mike

[Ed Hansberry]

Linux requres a lot of battery/processor power. Tha't why Linux based phones are doing so poorly. Also unlike Windows Mobile it is not designed to run on small devices and it is not user friendly (command line anyone)

Interesting. That's almost exactly what people said about Microsoft's mobile software six years ago.

Mike

Yes, but they were wrong. :wink: It was just wishful thinking on the part of some Palm apologists. :grinning devil:

Linux to this day still isn't ready as an open platform for mobile devices like PalmOS and WIndows Mobile are. Embedded, yes, but as a mobile platform to write apps and drivers for? No, and until they write the kernel and related drivers for the completely different duty that a mobile platform must perform, duties a desktop or laptop never have to worry about, I question whether Linux will ever be a suitable mobile platform for the forseeable future.

Note that the work PalmSource is doing on this will go a long way towards making it work right, but that is because they are working deeply at that level, something I'm not seeing anyone else do.

[robertotores]

Right now Linux is not doing very well on laptops. There are mainly problems with power management.

I use Ubuntu Linux, which I consider is the best version to use on a laptop (support for hibernate, widescreen, etc.) But it does not compares to Windows in terms of power management.

Just imagine if Linux does poorly on a laptop what can you spect from it on a phone.

[Sven Johannsen]

Well, as long as you don't have to Grep a number from a command line, this is going to fall into the discussion as to whether people really care what the underlying OS is. You don't interact with the "OS", you interact with the "UI". If that is better/easier to use, and/or has solid marketing behind it, Linux has as much chance as anything. I think it would be a mistake for any company to develop a Linux based phone and market it as such. You won't impress the rank and file phone user, and may even frighten them off.

[Ed Hansberry]

Right now Linux is not doing very well on laptops. There are mainly problems with power management.
Last I heard, wasn't it also a beast to get wifi cards working on them?

[Rebecca]

Yes you are right. I only brought it up because of a post saying it only runs on servers etc.


I said that Linux was designed for servers not that it only runs on servers. I have even seen a wrist watch that runs Linux.

The problem is that being designed for Servers and large scale computers it is not appropiate for small devices such as phone.

Windows Mobile was designed from the ground up to run on small devices unlike Linux.

[Jerry Raia]

Hence the "etc" :)