Emblaze Shows Off Something Else

Israeli manufacturer Emblaze Mobile announced in London Tuesday the official launch of the Else, a Linux-based mobile phone. The company initially previewed the device in Japan in October.

The new phone is still little more than a twinkle in Emblaze designers' eyes. Still, company officials expect to have more Else mobile phones on store shelves by the middle of 2010.

"Where are they now? They have a platform that is not yet ready to ship. They are looking for operator partners in Europe and North America for it," Ian Fogg, research analyst at Forrester, told LinuxInsider.

Eager Market

Though Emblaze is still readying its final product, the company has an opportunity to tap into the vibrant mobile phone market. The introduction of another unproven operating platform does not necessarily mean the new phone will not be able to compete against established platforms.

The Else handset has an innovative user interface on top of its Linux platform, and although it's a small player, it has larger partners behind it, according to Fogg.

"The overall mobile handset market is enormous. Over its life there have been many mobile phone systems used by manufacturers. Clearly the operators are looking for new devices. There is an increasing appetite for smart mobile phones with Internet access and smart user interfaces. They see an active market for exclusive deals for differentiated phones in an expanding market for smart mobile phones," Fogg said.

Different Landscape

The fact that the mobile phone market is currently very crowded isn't much different than five or 10 years ago, except that now the mobile platform is aimed at developers, noted Fogg, who was present for the Emblaze demonstration on Tuesday.

This is a very different atmosphere from what we have available for desktop operating systems, he noted. The computer field offers three main OSes, and one claims a clear majority of users.

Still, as a new market entrant, Emblaze may have its work cut out for it, and its innovative platform approach could make a difference in how well developers and operators take to the Else mobile phone.

"From what I've seen on the Web site, it's clear that the company has invested heavily into it. The next piece for it to consider is scale, and to do that, Emblaze has to get its operating system -- if it truly is that, I cannot tell -- onto many handsets," Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst for IDC, told LinuxInsider.

The top five platforms -- Symbian, Windows Mobile, Android, RIM and iPhone -- have already mapped out their respective strategies.

Hardware Cleverness

The Else handset will offer features like GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth built in and will be powered by a TI OMAP 3430 processor, according to specs displayed on the product's Web site.

Other planned features include a 5 megapixel camera, 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 854 by 480 supporting 262K colors, online-based backup, a 3.5mm audio jack, 16GB of onboard storage and its own media store.

Thumb-Driven Interface

Perhaps it will handling rather than applications that will make Emblaze's new device stand out from the crowded field of mobile phone devices. Emblaze dubbed using its new interface as "sPlaying."

The company boasts that its "sPlay" interface will be the end of the main menu as consumers know it. It characterized the multiple poking and clicking through various stage menus as an integral and universal inconvenience that accompanies most mobile device activities -- what Emblaze calls the "Main Menu" syndrome.

By comparison, sPlaying involves a more flowing and intuitive one-thumb touch, slide and release motion, the company said. This provides instant access and activation of any desired action.

Outsourcing the Options

Emblaze plans to meet its development deadline to market by having electronics manufacturer Sharp build the mobile phone, said Fogg, a strategy he called a smart move.

"Compare what Else is doing to the Palm. Palm tries to do everything, from hardware to full suite of software. Emblaze us taking an existing Linux platform and adding to it," said Fogg.

Having another manufacturer build the hardware is a common practice even for the largest mobile phone companies, and it's a smart strategy for a new entry, he said.

What Linux?

Many proprietary platforms have Linux underneath but are not exposed to third parties. Even with Linux in them, the overall operating platform may not be open source, cautioned Fogg. That may be the case with the Else phone.

"The Access platform is intended to be LiMo compatible. I don't know if this company will continue that or will need to tweak the OS," he concluded. [*Correction - Nov. 25, 2009]