Mobile Linux platform group the LiMo Foundation has sought to align itself with the recently established Wholesale Applications Community, claiming that both initiatives share “belief in true openness.” The Wholesale Applications Community, launched at Mobile World Congress last month, sees at least 24 of the world’s largest operators join forces to launch an open international applications platform, marking the largest unified move to date by the operator community into the mobile apps space. In an open letter today to the Community, LiMo Foundation executive director Morgan Gillis writes: “The Board of LiMo Foundation now extends an open offer to make our experience in the following areas available to assist in accelerating the Wholesale Applications Community into a fully operational position from which to fulfill its key mission on behalf of the industry: structuring dialogue among the signatories to the initial Memorandum of Understanding; engaging interested vendors; defining the governance model and articles of association; establishing legal entities in multiple jurisdictions as appropriate; preparing the Wholesale Applications Community roadmap; organizing operationally to engage the industry and deliver early practical outcomes.”

The LiMo Foundation’s move is not that surprising in light of comments made to the Mobile World Congress Show Daily last month, when Gillis said:  “We see a deep, powerful, long term affinity between LiMo and the Community. There is substantial overlap in terms of the main companies that are driving the initiatives. Both are truly open. LiMo intends to work very closely and practically with the new group to provide a much better way of working inside the mobile industry for applications developers, service providers and media providers of all kinds.” Cynics would suggest that Gillis’ letter is an attempt to drum up publicity for the Foundation’s efforts, which have been overshadowed by the high-profile rival Linux-based operating system Android in recent months. Gillis’ letter was keen to stress that since LiMo’s launch, three releases of the LiMo Platform have been delivered, 52 LiMo devices have been brought to market (including the Vodafone 360 H1 and M1 devices from Samsung and a wide range of devices for NTT Docomo from Panasonic and NEC), while the overall LiMo Membership base has expanded to more than 50 companies.