14 DAY TRIAL // According to a study conducted by ABI Research, more than 127 million devices will run a commercial Linux OS by 2012, comparing to 8.1 million such devices this year. Moreover, shipments of devices incorporating Linux as a real-time operating system replacement are set to grow to more than 76 million units in 2012 from nearly none in 2007. "Linux in the cellular phone is not a question of 'if', but 'when'," says research director Stuart Carlaw.
The report also revealed that the most fundamental issue that has hindered the growth of commercial Linux has shown signs of being alleviated, by growing collaboration between industry initiatives as well as the introduction of complete solutions like the ALP from ACCESS. While the industry as a whole is rallying behind the Linux offering, significant disadvantages still exist and must be addressed for Linux to become popular on the market. So far, issues with latency have prevented Linux to be considered as a viable RTOS replacement in single-processor devices.
But Carlaw points out that "innovative solutions such as PREEMPT_RT, the VirtualLogix virtual operating environment, and the use of RTOS executives over Linux kernels, look set to deal with latency issues. However, the industry still needs to understand the total cost of ownership for Linux solutions, and it must create a common set of APIs to enable economies of scale for third-party developers."
Several mobile phone companies such as Motorola are already supporting and aiming to make Linux a more appealing and widely used RTOS. There are quite a few advantages to Linux-based mobile devices. Manufacturers wouldn't have to deal with the additional costs and complexity of including a dedicated application processor while operators would provide a stable and powerful platform.