Finally User Experience rules mobile development

2008 will be the year of iPhone competitors rivaling the user experience introduced by Apple Inc on mobile handsets.

The interesting part is that there are several new comers in the Open Source segment. Linux seems to dominate the field, while taking different approaches, the goal seems the same; Establishing solid alternatives to Windows Mobile and Symbian.

LiMo is developing middle ware as open source, arguing that the UI is the area providers will use to differentiate themselves from each other. LiMo is supported by several strong players and just announced that their member base is further expanded:

LiMo will announce Monday that Acrodea, ETRI, Huawei, Purple Labs and Trolltech are joining the consortium, which launched a year ago with founding members Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and Vodafone.

OpenMoko is the odd kid on the block. They are also building a working phone and a developer kit for hackers that want to build their own customized phone. Nice twist in this competitive market:

Apple’s iPhone may come with numerous features for consumers, but for developers, it offers limited customization options. The movers behind the OpenMoko open-source project, announced in November 2006, want to offer those developers an alternative with unlimited customization. OpenMoko: An iPhone Alternative for Developers?

For the more adventurous of you check out the hacker kit:

Neo Advanced

This Hacker’s Dream Box is a heavy duty, mysterious black box that houses the OpenMoko development board. The Advanced kit is padded to protect your Neo 1973, development board, and accessories for hackers in transport.

Last but not least you have the G-phone or Android. The previously announced $ 10 million challenge is now on, and this open source mobile linux with Java including UI elements and functions to create a consistant user experience on both keypad and touch screen phones.

I think that by the end of 2008 the true winners will be the users. Never before has the industry been so focused on User Experience. Driven by Apple, we will not only see more functional smart phones but more important with user interfaces that works!