Samsung open sources Galaxy S3 source code

SMARTPHONE VENDOR Samsung has open sourced its Android 4.0 operating system implementation found on its Galaxy S3 smartphones.

Samsung launched its Galaxy S3 smartphone earlier this week to much fanfare and while the firm has put some impressive hardware into the device it has also made considerable additions to the base Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. The firm has open sourced its Android operating system source code less than a week after launching the device.

Samsung has released 180MB of source code for Samsung Galaxy S3 units with the model number GT-I9300. Along with Samsung's original source code release it has also found time to release a 1.2MB update adding support for the GT-I9300_MEA, GT-I9300_SEA and GT-I9300_SWA models.

With Samsung open sourcing its code, third party Android developers can incorporate parts of its Touchwiz interface into their distributions. Android distributions such as Cyanogenmod have proved popular with those who want to wipe mobile operator bloated Android installations.

Samsung's decision not to hang around open sourcing its Android code is very welcome and should be a lesson to others. Also Samsung's actions highlight that revenue generation is not hampered by open sourcing code, despite what some companies might try to lead you to believe. µ