Voda makes mobile Linux push but not with Android

The World’s Largest Carrier in terms of Revenue, Vodafone, has given a clear indication that Linux will remain a major part of its handset platform line up going forward.

On Thursday, Big Red said that it has tapped open mobile OS company Azingo to develop applications for mobile phones based on the LiMo platform.

LiMo has one of the biggest presences in the mobile Linux space, since last summer’s absorption of Linux splinter group the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum. The LiPS Forum’s member base counted players from across the mobile ecosystem, including chipset suppliers, Linux OS and mobile stack vendors, handset designers and OEMs and regional and global wireless operators, but decided to merge with LiMo in the wake of announcements by a number of LiPS members that they would be joining LiMo – Access, France Telecom / Orange, Open-Plug, Purple Labs and Texas Instruments.

Azingo will develop applications for Vodafone handsets based on the LiMo platform, but that’s all the company is giving away at present. A couple of years ago, Vodafone adopted a three pronged approach to handset software, selecting Linux alongside Windows Mobile and Symbian.

Like many of its peers, the Big V is also a member of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which develops the software for the Google-backed Android platform. A membership move which some interpreted as the carrier preparing to reduce its reliance on other flavours of Linux. Evidently this is not the case.