A new forum will be launched today to encourage adoption of Linux in telephony applications. Participants including Palm OS developer PalmSource and mobile operator France Telecom will collaborate on a common framework for developing mobile applications to run on the opensource platform.

The Linux Phone Standards (Lips) forum aims to establish a standardised platform that developers can target to build applications and services for Linux handsets. The Lips forum will complement efforts by other groups, such as the recently launched Mobile Linux Initiative, which is working on the core Linux code itself.

Jean-Marc Holder, PalmSource European marketing director and treasurer of Lips, said there is increased interest in Linux as a standard platform for phones, but warned that there are many challenges ahead. “Lots of work has been done at the kernel level with power management and cutting the code footprint, but not much has been done at the level closest to the applications,” Holder said. He added that a standard platform for applications and services is a key concern for mobile carriers.

Much of the effort of the Lips forum will be to produce application programming interface (API) specifications to give developers a standard way to call on services such as messaging and telephony functions. The group plans to deliver the first profiles before the end of 2005, followed by the delivery of the first APIs and other specifications by the end of 2006.

Wherever possible, the forum will incorporate existing APIs, according to Holder. “We don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” he said. Standards will be fed back to the industry for input from carriers, handset makers and developers.

PalmSource is currently working to port its Palm OS environment and applications to run on Linux-based handsets. The port is due in 2006 and will incorporate the Lips standards, Holder said.

Eric Baissus, chief executive of Open Plug and a Lips board member, said the initiative would “complete the puzzle” of standards needed for a Linux phone platform.

Open Plug develops a Linux-based application framework for handset makers, and will adopt the Lips specifications, said Baissus.