Linux gains ground in emerging Korean SmartPhone market

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Oct. 16, 2000

Michael Lee (of MIZI Research) provided the following translation of an article which appeared in the Korean edition of eWEEK . . .

Because of the growing concern of profitability, Linux companies are shifting their market direction to Consulting based on Linux, especially in the area of Embedded Linux. In addition to its strength in Internet and web access, Linux has proved a worthy platform for embedded applications by virtue of its ability to offer a compact kernel, the free availability of source code, and the inexpensive license fees.

Accordingly, approximately ten Korean companies are currently developing Linux-based Embedded operating systems for SmartPhones, PDAs, Internet appliances (such as set-top boxes), and factory automation systems. Several of these firms have already developed Linux-based embedded operating systems.

The hot spot is the SmartPhone market

The Korean telecommunications, electronics, and service industries are closely watching whether Embedded Linux will dominate the SmartPhone market. Of course, the Korean Linux industry is also watching this phenomenon with keen interest! Implementing Embedded Linux in SmartPhones validates the reliability and compactness of Linux; bit it also has great value to the proliferation of Linux, in that it enhances the connection of Linux with wireless Internet. In addition, it will have the effect of expanding the SmartPhone market, which is currently struggling due to its intermediate position between cellular phones and PDAs.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) of Korea estimated that the size of the Embedded Linux SmartPhone market would reach $60M US by 2001, growing to around $200M by 2004. The MIC further forecasted that the overall Embedded Linux market would reach $100M by 2001 and $500M by 2004. In general, MIC estimates the market share for Embedded Linux in SmartPhones to be approximately 50% of the overall Embedded Linux market.

Linux + Wireless Internet = SmartPhone

MIZI Researh and Palmpalm Technology are the major Korean companies currently developing SmartPhones based on Embedded Linux. The two companies have separately concluded agreements with SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics for manufacturing and sales, and both expect to release products toward the end of this year. The selection of the SmartPhone was based on the analysis that a SmartPhone with extended features could capture sizeable market share from traditional PDAs and cellular phones.

Although both Windows CE and Palm OS provide good performance, they are inferior to Embedded Linux with respect to size, platform independence, and cost (license fees). The difficulty of program conversion (or porting) is also an especially important issue, in the case of SmartPhones, and another area where Linux excels.

MIZI Researh developed Linutte specifically to satisfy the small size requirements of the SmartPhone market. The target hardware environment is an 18MHz ARM7 processor, 240x120 pixel LCD display, touch screen, and serial interface. The OS requires just 2MB of DRAM and 4MB of Flash memory. To implement the kernel, GUI, and application software within 2MB of memory, MIZI downsized Trolltech's QT/Embedded GUI toolkit (normally 5.5MB) by removing 3D and color related code, and by replacing Unicode with Hangul code. The result of this process is "microQt" -- which fits in just 1MB of memory. In addition, the kernel and GNU libraries were also compacted. Jee-su Lee, a Mizi software developer, said "Thanks to this compacting process, we still have 750KB free space out of 2MB RAM, after implementing memo, address, and handwriting recognition applications. The remaining work is to implement a web browser, mail client, and further reduce the size of the rest of the software."

MIZI Research has been developing its Linutte Embedded Linux OS for the SmartPhone market since March, 2000. The company plans release a beta version by the end of 2000.

Related stories:
    Report from Korea forum on Embedded Linux & Wireless Internet
    Advanced information on a Korean combo cell phone + PDA
    Korea Electronic Times: visit to . . . PalmPalm Technology
    Korea Herald: Firm applies Linux to mobile phones

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