OpenMoko Phone is Now Dead
Posted in: Smart Devices, smartphone, Today's Chili
OpenMoko executive director Sean Moss-Pulz has announced at OpenExpo in Switzerland
that the company will be discontinuing its open-source Neo FreeRunner smartphone, according to Slashdot. Moss-Pulz also plans to reduce the number of staffers in order to stay in business supporting the existing units sold, and “hopes the
community will support the FreeRunner.”
This is a sad but unsurprising end for the OpenMoko phone. When we first saw it at PC Mag headquarters a couple of years ago, it showed tremendous potential. OpenMoko looked to be a way to give developers–and therefore, end users–much more control over the software running on cell phones, and therefore reduce the tight grip that wireless carriers exercised on mobile OS platforms.
Since that time, though, we’ve seen all of the carriers make overtures toward more open environments. Plus, the iPhone, Google Android, and other efforts have brought smartphone apps more into the mainstream, leaving OpenMoko less and less room to maneuver. And all of the usual caveats about open-source development applied–meaning, corralling the necessary resources and just getting the damn handset finished. Unfortunately, it all came together too late for OpenMoko.
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