14 DAY TRIAL // Wireless carrier China Mobile, the largest wireless services provided in the country, and also the largest in the world by number of subscribers, has just announced that it would join the Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization aimed at supporting the growth of Linux.
The foundation already counts a number of almost 100 companies as its members, and has offered the Gold membership to China Mobile, making it its 10th Gold member. The Foundation has three levels of membership – Platinum, Gold and Silver.
Bill Huang, General Manager of China Mobile Research Institute, stated: “China Mobile recognizes The Linux Foundation as the world’s foremost nonprofit Linux organization, the focal point for Linux technology, standardization and innovation.
“We see enormous value in the open architecture of the Linux system and look forward to contributing to Linux on a global scale,” he continued.
The Chinese mobile phone carrier already took its first steps in the Linux area, with the development an launch of its own flavor of Android, called OPhone.
It appears that the wireless services provider plans on investing even more resources in the development of its operating system, and also in the launch of new mobile phones running under it.
“China Mobile’s decision to join The Linux Foundation and their commitment to Linux could represent a seismic step toward a realignment of OSes in China and in the telecommunications industry,” Jim Zemlin (executive director at The Linux Foundation) said.
“For The Linux Foundation, the opportunity to present Linux as a choice to 560 million users is a power-packed proposition.”
We should also note that this is the first time a Chinese company joins the Linux Foundation, though other large Internet companies in the country also use Linux (including Sina, Shanda, Baidu, Taobao, Netease, and others).
Not to mention that there are some Chinese hardware manufacturers, including Huawei and Lenovo, which are delivering Linux-based routers, servers, mobile phones, and more.