Orange and ACCESS Join LiMo Foundation™, Uniting the Mobile Linux Community

* Orange Joins as Founder Member, ACCESS joins as Core Member,Underlining LiMo’s Position as a Unifying Force in Mobile Linux



Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain, February, 2008 - LiMo Foundation, global communications company, Orange and ACCESS CO., LTD, a global provider of advanced mobile software technologies—pioneers in the Mobile Linux movement—today announced that Orange and ACCESS have joined LiMo Foundation to unify the Mobile Linux industry and make truly open devices more accessible to mobile users all over the world.

In recognition of its historic and pioneering role in the mobile Open Source community, Orange has been invited to join LiMo as a Founder member, alongside original Founders Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone. ACCESS, which shares a strong heritage in Mobile Linux innovation, joins as a new Core member and will also hold a seat on the LiMo Foundation board.

“The reputations of Orange and ACCESS for leadership within the Mobile Linux community are widely recognized, so these companies represent major additions to LiMo Foundation’s governing board,” said Morgan Gillis, executive director, LiMo Foundation. “Both Orange and ACCESS will make an invaluable contribution to delivering the LiMo Platform™ as a consistent, open source-based software platform that will benefit the entire mobile industry.”

Dr. Malik Kamal-Saadi, principal analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media commented, “With Orange and ACCESS joining LiMo Foundation, we are now seeing even stronger industry support for LiMo’s open, transparent approach to delivering a global handset platform based on Mobile Linux. This important milestone illustrates an intensifying commitment across the industry to Mobile Linux compliancy, portability of applications from one mobile device to another and the achievement of better user experiences through unification.”

“Orange was one of the first mobile operators to make significant strides in open source innovation,” commented Yves Maitre, senior vice president, devices, Orange. “Our vision is for a truly open mobile community which delivers richer mobile services, more affordable devices and a better experience for our customers. We previously supported open source Mobile Linux through our participation in the LiPS Forum. Today, we believe that by participating in LiMo, we will accelerate the delivery of new and compelling mobile services.”

The addition of ACCESS provides further evidence of strong industry-wide engagement with LiMo Foundation. ACCESS and Orange have a long track record of collaborating to promote the introduction of Linux in the market for mobile and convergent devices. By participating in LiMo Foundation, the two companies will work to substantially advance the creation of Linux-based mobile platforms; establish an ecosystem that highlights the advantages of Linux development (including transparency, innovation and scalability); collaborate with other industry peers, and promote platform standardization.

“Our motivation to join LiMo grew out of our longstanding dedication to accelerating Mobile Linux innovation,” said Toru Arakawa, CEO, president and co-founder of ACCESS. “Mobile users are demanding easier-to-use products with more sophisticated applications. Our experience in developing the ACCESS Linux Platform and our work with LiMo Foundation will help to meet these demands and hasten the development and delivery of new, innovative products. Together with Orange and the other Founder members, we look forward to playing a key role in bringing Mobile Linux innovations to market.”

Kiyohito Nagata of NTT DoCoMo, chairperson of LiMo Foundation added, “Orange and ACCESS are true innovators within the mobile industry. These are companies with proven technologies and large, sophisticated customer bases that will further establish LiMo as a global Linux-based platform while reducing fragmentation in mobile. We greatly look forward to their contributions as new board members.”

Launched in January 2007, LiMo Foundation is open to all vendors and service providers in the mobile communications marketplace, including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers, independent software vendors, integrators and third-party developers. LiMo members are participating collectively to building a rich ecosystem and have the ability to influence the evolution of the LiMo Platform, leaving them free to provide compelling and differentiated services to customers.

LiMo’s technology will be showcased in Booth 8b135, Hall 8 at Mobile World Congress, February 11-14 in Barcelona. The Orange booth is located in Hall 1, stand 1E19. The ACCESS booth is located in the Courtyard Area CY06, Fira de Barcelona.

For more information on LiMo Foundation and its guiding principles and bylaws, please visit www.limofoundation.org.
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