On Thursday, the Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS) said it would merge with the Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMo) in an attempt to strengthen the mobile Linux system.

LiPS was first started back in 2005 by several companies, including Palmsource, France Telecom and Orange.

LiMo was launched last year in January and has managed, in its 14 months of existence, to comprise about 40 mobility leaders. Its goal is to globally deliver its Linux-based handset software and eventually reach the entire industry. So far, it has been doing very well and has managed to obtain the support of several major carriers and handset makers such as Motorola, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, Red Bend Software, Sagem Mobiles, SK Telecom, Kvaleberg and Infineon Technologies.

Halfway through May, Verizon Wireless, the no. 2 U.S. mobile service, confirmed its support for the Linux mobile-phone operating system, as it announced that it will join the LiMo Foundation.

At the same time, Nokia announced its intention to work alongside other electronics makers within the Symbian Foundation. Nigel Clifford, the company's CEO, described Symbian’s goal as follows: "Our vision is to become the most widely used software platform on the planet." The Symbian Foundation is backed up by several major electronics companies, among which we find AT&T, NTT Docomo, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Vodafone and Texas Instruments.

When comparing the aforementioned lists of companies, one can observe that some of them are mentioned with regard to both LiMo and Symbian. The carriers will offer a range of smartphones compatible with several other platforms as well, including Windows Mobile and Research in Motion software.