Motorola's Android play may herald Linux second-coming

A Motorola Android phone won't be the first flirt with mobile Linux

Without revealing technical specifications of products, Motorola seems keen to release a mobile device with Google's Linux-based Android mobile platform, which the company sees as an interesting opportunity after years of internal mobile Linux development.

Director of Motorola's enterprise mobility business in Australia and New Zealand Paul Blinkhorn said the recent development of Google's Android operating system is "very interesting".

"The Android phone is an interesting development so watch this space," Blinkhorn said, adding the platform provides a good opportunity for handset makers like Motorola.

When asked if the Linux-based Android platform is like a second-coming of Linux-based mobile operating systems at Motorola, Blinkhorn said there are only so many hardware or software platforms a company can support.

Looks like Google's development and support of Android will help phone makers like Motorola streamline R&D operations, and rumours from the US also indicate the company is not far from following HTC's lead.

Any form of Android use by Motorola raises questions about the company's capacity to deliver feature-rich, modern operating systems given it has been developing them since first inventing the mobile phone itself some 25 years ago.

Motorola began shipping Linux-powered phones back in 2003 with the A760 and continues to do so with today's modern Rokr and Razr units, but has so far failed to ignite the market with a handset that can produce a desktop-like experience the same way Apple and Google do with their iPhone OS and Android offerings, respectively.

Blinkhorn refused to comment on when we might see an Android-based phone from Motorola, but if it arrives it will be like a second-coming of Linux to the company's mobile handset portfolio.

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