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back to article Vodafone picks a Linux-phone

The LiMO Foundation is celebrating Vodafone's endorsement with two handsets from Samsung, but the news that the Linux-based alternative isn't dead won't be received well over at Symbian. The LiMO Foundation reckons to have already launched 42 handsets using its platform, but these are closed affairs only really of interest to …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
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    Dodgy Business Plan?

    From the article:

    "LiMO makes great play of offering a "common vision" by bringing companies together, but it's a vision that puts the network operators back in the driving seat - Vodafone is the first, but every other operator will be crossing their fingers and hoping that the world's biggest can gain control of its customers before it's too late. "

    Or, mobile operators could instead use a business model that doesn't require them to sell additional services in order to turn a profit. That is, don't make a loss on the phone/tariff combination, and write good in-house apps that *people want to buy*. Then, it doesn't matter which marketplace is used to distribute them, the operator will still make money.

    Or do they just want to skim the profits of other developers by charging an excessive cut on each app sold? (a la Apple - although I don't have the figures to say whether their cut is "excessive" or simply enough to cover the operating costs of their App Store).

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  2. AntonyE

    Voda could lock Symbian-based devices if they wanted

    Regarding...

    "That should leave Vodafone knocking on Symbian's door - the operator has already developed a Symbian client for its '360 service, so surely it would make sense to use the newly-open Symbian for handsets locked into the Vodafone 360 service?

    Except that such handsets wouldn't be locked in at all"

    There's no reason why Voda couldn't create locked down Symbian devices. NTT DOCOMO have been doing it for years. The Symbian Foundation license doesn't restrict any use of the code. It does restrict use of the logo/brand if the device doesn't meet certain criteria, but:

    (A) I think you could lock the device to other webservices and have a good claim to have met the criteria.

    (B) I doubt Vodafone would care if they couldn't use the logo. It's not as though LiMo provides any brand goodness; so clearly that didn't come into the equation.

    So the decision to go with LiMo over Symbian (which is very interesting) has something else behind it.

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