Google’s Android (News - Alert) may just be the solution to problems of vertical and horizontal fragmentation which have stood in the way of the spread of Linux into the mobile environment.

 

Android may be creating an unexpected side-effect—namely, it may be giving much-need support to the concept of mobile Linux. This could very well influence companies like Trolltech and ACCESS, which have been hesitant to make the investment in the past due to the aforementioned obstacles. ABI Research (News - Alert) predicts that over the course of the next five years, roughly 127 million Linux smartphones will be shipped each year.

 

"Android provides a ready-made ecosystem of vendors, carriers, and software developers that could provide enormous economy-of-scale right from the start," said ABI Research director Stuart Carlaw. "Another concern over Linux involves how to monetize innovation that is subject to a public license. Android solves this through the use of the Apache V2 public license, which does not include a copyleft function."