Back in April, I blogged about blowing up ‘business as usual’ and the Opensource Mobile Telephony initiative at OpenMoko…
Time marches on.
On July 9th, OpenMoko opened up to the public! Cleaner interface and a really nifty developers kit, and not a shabby handset besides at $300..
The NEO1973 Features:
- 2.8″ VGA TFT color display
- Touchscreen, usable with stylus or fingers
- 266MHz Samsung System on a Chip (SOC)
- USB 1.1, switchable between Client and Host (unpowered)
- Integrated AGPS
- 2.5G GSM – quad band, voice, CSD, GPRS
- Bluetooth 2.0
- Micro SD slot
- High Quality audio codec
A major differentiator and pivot is where iPhone does not have GPS which enables those vital location-aware services. How this will play out will be very interesting, especially now that the iPhone finally released.
What appears to be the second pivot is third party developer support: Who will attract the most modders and garage-based software companies?
What’s clear is that while the closed gardens of mobile content may be opening, the traditional U.S. model of handset-manufacturers and carriers ‘knowing what’s best’ in functionality may finally be falling down as well… Enter: The Crowd.
So, thank heaven for small favors. OpenMoko and iPhone will be the biggest drivers of innovation in mobile for some time to come.
