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Android vs Tizen

Back in September 2009, I wrote about the challenge posed by Google's new operating system Android to incumbents Apple, Nokia, Blackberry and LG. Since then Android has dominated the mobile phone platform. Based on Linux, the OS benefits from code contributed by a legion of programmers across the globe and available royalty-free to hardware manufacturers and software developers. A formidable response is on the horizon. An association of some of the largest players in the electronic industry is backing Tizen , a new mobile OS platform. Tizen, like Android, is based on the Linux kernel and should benefit from the combined strengths of members such as NTT DocoMo, Huawei, Samsung and Intel. It should be interesting to see how Google responds especially given that two of the main contributors to the rapid rise of Android (Samsung and Huawei) appear to have changed camp.

Fabrice is the man!

Fabrice Bellard , best known as the author of FFmeg and QEMU software, is back in the news. His company Amarisoft has released a 4G LTE base station running entirely in software on a stock PC. The result is a 4G platform priced at least ten times less than a traditional box. This is good news for small network operators and private companies e.g. off-shore oil rigs, remote mining operations and adhoc network providers. Amisoft has not released the cost of the software but the price for the radio front end (based on the Ettus N210 and SBX daughter board) is around $2,000.