User-modifiable Linux phone ships

Trolltech is shipping the Greephone, its open, user-modifiable Linux mobile phone aimed at helping developers write applications for or modify components in its Qtopia Phone Edition (QPE) software stack. Additionally, the company has quietly released a GPL-licensed "community" version of QPE.

Trolltech first unveiled the Greenphone at a high-profile press event at LinuxWorld in San Francisco last month. Compared to software-based mobile phone emulators, the Greenphone will provide a better platform on which to develop, test, and refine mobile phone software, Trolltech says.

The Greenphone targets ISVs (independent software vendors), as well as mobile phone designers and operators interested in customizing QPE-based mobile phones. The phone could help jumpstart a native mobile application development community around Linux, according to Trolltech.