More than 127m phones and mobile devices will be
equipped with the Linux operating system by 2012.
The estimate comes in a study by analyst
ABI Research, which says there will only be 8.1m
such devices this year.
"Linux in the cellular phone is not a question of ‘if', but
‘when'," says ABI Research analyst Stuart Carlaw.
Complete Linux-based development suites such as the
Trolltech-led
GreenSuite and
Alp from Access are helping to drive the
growth, said the study.
The mobile industry however still needs to understand the total
cost of ownership for Linux programs, and it must create a common
set of APIs to enable economies of scale for third-party
developers, said ABI.
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