Open Source Linux Phone Goes On Sale

An anonymous reader writes "Sean Moss-Pultz has just announced on the OpenMoko mailing list that the Neo1973 is finally available for purchase. OpenMoko.com is now taking orders via credit card. OpenMoko intends to 'free your phone' through a hardware-independent and open source user interface backed by the Linux kernel. This device could very well stand as a competitor to the more expensive Apple iPhone, but at a fraction of the price and with no vendor lock-in. Although the devices in this release cycle (GTA01) are mainly intended for developers, the up-and-coming devices targeted to the consumer market (GTA02) will also feature WiFi capabilities, a 3D acceleration unit, and 256MB of on-board flash. Both units will use the MicroSD card interface for removable storage and have USB client / host capabilities. For a full feature list, check out OpenMoko.com or the OpenMoko Wiki."

Comments

Re:Apple got it wrong (but may still win)

[mjwx]

No, apple and google aren't co-operating, that is just wishful thinking on your part.

The iphone will never achieve the kind of success you are imagining because of one simple factor. The Mobile phone market is already saturated. When apple released their ipod there were few companies in the MP3 player market an none of them took it seriously (portable CD players was where the money was at the time) this changed at the right time and apple captialized. The phone market is not changing and the iphone is not doing anything new. The major competitors such as Motorola, Nokia or even Samsung aren't concerned about the iphone, they already have equivalent products at a cheaper price in addition to this the iphone is competing with ordinary mobiles.

In the mobile market (or the business market) the apple brand does not carry a lot of weight, not like a Nokia or a Blackberry and with the restrictions on the iphone this is not likely to change. At the US$500 price tag they are competing with PDA phones which means targeting the business market. Apples phone business will be less successful than their PC business.