First And Only Access Linux Smartphone Cancelled

The public relations firm for European wireless carrier Orange has confirmed that the Samsung smartphone running on the Access Linux Platform, originally planned for later this year, has been cancelled.

Orange's PR firm, speaking to The Inquirer, attributed the cancellation of the Samsung SGH-i800 to "a number of advances in mobile technology" which would allow for "a more competitive Linux mobile" at some point in the future, based on the LiMo Foundation's Linux platform.



This is a major defeat for Access, which has yet to get a single ALP device on the market, or a solid commitment from a major brand.

The Samsung i800 was the first and only device announced that would have run the Access Linux Platform since the operating system's release in early 2007.

A Brief History of ALP
After Access purchased PalmSource in 2005, it acquired the rights to the Palm OS, and its successor, the Access Linux Platform (ALP).

This operating system offers a new user interface, access to thousands of Palm OS Garnet-based applications available now, and the ability to run native applications written specifically for this new OS.

Still, no major company has stepped forward to license ALP. Even Palm, Inc. it taking a different route, developing its own Linux-based successor to the Palm OS, partially based on technology purchased from Access.