LiMo Foundation and Linux Foundation Announce New Open Source Software Platform, Tizen™

New cross-device and cross-architecture platform will drive standards-based web applications

September 27, 2011 – LONDON, ENGLAND and SAN FRANCISCO, USA – LiMo Foundation™ and The Linux Foundation today announced a new open source project, Tizen™, to develop a Linux-based device software platform. Hosted at The Linux Foundation, Tizen is a standards-based, cross-architecture software platform, which supports multiple device categories including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems. The initial release of Tizen is targeted for Q1 2012, enabling first devices to come to market in mid-2012.

Tizen combines the best open source technologies from LiMo and The Linux Foundation and adds a robust and flexible standards-based HTML5 and WAC web development environment within which device-independent applications can be produced efficiently for unconstrained cross-platform deployment. This approach leverages the robustness and flexibility of HTML5 which is rapidly emerging as a preferred application environment for mobile applications and the broad carrier support of the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC). Tizen additionally carries a state-of-the-art reference user interface enabling the creation of highly attractive and innovative user experience that can be further customized by operators and manufacturers.

“LiMo Foundation views Tizen as a well-timed step change which unites major mobile Linux proponents within a renewed ecosystem with an open web vision of application development which will help device vendors to innovate through software and liberalize access to consumers for developers and service providers,” said Morgan Gillis, Executive Director of LiMo Foundation. “LiMo will maintain its focus on providing the industry with a broadly backed vendor- and service-neutral ecosystem grounded in the spirit of open and unconstrained opportunity that is embodied by Linux.”

The mobile industry continues to embrace Linux and open source technologies as key factors in lowering device realization cost, increasing flexibility and improving time to market and it is expected that Tizen will further enhance these effects due to its cross-category reach and strong focus on open standards.

“The Linux Foundation is pleased to host the Tizen platform,” said Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of The Linux Foundation. “Open source platforms such as Tizen are good for Linux as they further its adoption across device categories. We look forward to collaborating with the LiMo Foundation and its members on this project.”

To participate in the project, please go Tizen.org.

About LiMo Foundation

LiMo Foundation™ is a dedicated consortium of mobile industry leaders working together within an open and transparent governance model—with shared leadership and shared decision making—to deliver an open and globally consistent handset software platform based upon mobile Linux for use by the whole mobile industry. The Board of LiMo Foundation comprises ACCESS, Panasonic Mobile Communications, NEC CASIO Mobile Communications, NTT DOCOMO, Samsung, SK Telecom, Telefónica and Vodafone. A full description of LiMo Foundation can be found at www.limofoundation.org.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2000, the organization sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and promotes, protects and advances the Linux operating system by marshaling the resources of its members and the open source development community. The Linux Foundation provides a neutral forum for collaboration and education by hosting Linux conferences, including LinuxCon, and generating original Linux research and content that advances the understanding of the Linux platform. Its web properties, including Linux.com, reach approximately two million people per month. The organization also provides extensive Linux training opportunities that feature the Linux kernel community’s leading experts as instructors. Follow The Linux Foundation on Twitter.

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The Linux Foundation and Tizen are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. LiMo is a trademark of the LiMo Foundation.