Verizon last month joined the LiMo Foundation, an organization that advocates for open mobile phone handset technology using Mobile Linux. As a core member of LiMo, Verizon hopes to lower the development costs of mobile phone designs across the industry.

Verizon Wireless doesn't yet have any solid plans to support Android, Google's forthcoming open-source mobile software, despite reports that the operator had joined the Android club, a company spokeswoman said.

Azingo, a specialist Mobile Linux outfit which used to go by the name of Celunite, has announced what it claims to be the industry's first Mobile Linux platform based on LiMO Foundation software in the form of a comprehensive suite of open software and services designed to help deliver web 2.0 applications, music and video to a wide range of mobile phones. Azingo Mobile promises to be cheaper and more flexible than existing solutions when it comes to developing, designing and deploying mobile phones.

Eighteen mobile handsets that support the LiMo (Linux Mobile) Foundation platform have been announced by Aplix, LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Purple Labs, and Samsung. The LiMO Foundation also announced the addition of nine new members, including Access, Orange, and AMD.

Broadcom said Linux is gaining momentum in mobile phones and that it would work with LiMo Foundation members to address power consumption, size and cost, in an effort to achieve widespread adoption of Linux-based handsets.

An influential industry group collaborating on a common Linux-based operating system for mobile phones has standardized on a common toolchain. The Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMO) will standardize on Wind River's commercial Linux technology as a "Common Integration Environment" (CIE), Wind River announced.

In a move aimed at consolidating their efforts to support Linux use on mobile phones, the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum is merging into the LiMo (Linux Mobile) Foundation.

The LiMo Foundation on Monday launched its LiMo Platform, a Linux-based software stack for mobile phones that is designed to be device-independent. Several handsets already are in the works that make use of the platform. The Foundation also announced that Texas Instruments has joined as a core member.

Communications chip giant Broadcom has joined the LiMo (Linux Mobile) Foundation, an industry group building a shared Linux stack for mobile phones. The company said it hopes to work with the Foundation to reduce Linux's power requirements, size, and cost, in order to "achieve widespread adoption of Linux-based handsets."