MontaVista squares up to Symbian

CALIFORNIA'S MONTAVISTA HAS landed the deal to supply its Linux OS to two major Japanese handset providers, NEC and Panasonic. Together they are providing three smartphones to Japan's leading mobile network operator, DoCoMo, for its FOMA (3G) network.

The INQ had previously discovered that NEC's N900iL was Linux based but so apparently is NEC's N901iC as is the P901i from Panasonic.

The NEC N901iC and the Panasonic P901i handsets will reputedly offer 3D audio, improved security features, the ability to transfer larger file sizes (up to 500KB) and enhanced multi-media applications.

"Handset manufacturers, such as NEC and Panasonic, are embracing Linux for phone development because of its flexibility, control and opportunities for innovation," claimed Jim Ready, CEO with MontaVista. The new phones were on display at the recent Embedded Technology Show held in Yokohama, Japan.

Matt Millar, co-founder of Mobile Innovation speculated how Symbian might react to such a direct challenge from the Linux community. He guessed that Symbian might lower its fees to vendors to as little as $1 per unit, compared to around $5 to present.

Millar argues that even with Open Source code, the payback on a new smartphone, plus the software development cost to rival Symbian is around a minimum of 5 million units. Less than that and you're probably better off with $5 a unit to Symbian. µ