Samsung is releasing two Vodafone handsets, both running Linux Mobile (LiMo), that will arrive before the end of the year. The first handset, the Vodafone 360 H1, will be first LiMo-based phone to reach the UK market. The phone features Vodafone 360, a suite of internet services that brings together contacts and content from social networks and internet services in one place. The next Vodafone 360 mobile phone is the 360 M1 which is expected to be more affordable.
Ian Fogg, principal analyst at Forrester Research, suggests the motivation of Vodafone to prefer LiMo over Android. “The concern for Vodafone is that using Android encourages people to use the Google login. I think Vodafone has focused on a platform that they have a fair degree of control over,” he said.
Vodafone is also using 360 to launch its own app store, for applications built on the JIL platform. The Joint Innovation Lab, JIL, is a collaborative effort between Vodafone, China Mobile, Softbank and Verizon, and has developed its own mobile widget platform. There are not many JIL handsets yet, but the potential market is huge — over a billion users around the world.
JIL aims to be a ‘write once, run anywhere’ platform, and while JIL applications may not have all the features of applications written for other platforms, they will run on any JIL-compliant phone.
One difference between Vodafone’s 360 platform and many of the others currently available to developers is that the operator is opening up elements of its core network to third parties.
Vodafone 360 users are not limited to devices on the Vodafone network, and an iPhone version is planned. Developers will be able to charge for content or offer subscriptions. Vodafone subscribers will pay as part of their phone bill, but the company has not said yet how it will offer that to subscribers on other networks.
Source: ZDNet UK
