Ring! Ring! More Momentum For LiMo Phones

Blaise Zerega says pull up to the bumper, baby. Sure the iPhone is all the rage, and the media keeps hyping the Google's android, but the smart money is on the LiMo phones.

The LiMo Foundation today announced that seven more handsets were commercially available-- models from Motorola, NEC, and Panasonic. To date that means there are 21 LiMo-powered smartphones available.

Also announced were 11 new members, bringing the number of companies in the consortium to more than 50. The LiMo foundation was launched last January by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, and Vodafone, and aims to create a Linux-based mobile platform.

Add to the mix $199 iPhones, Blackberries, Android-enabled phones (someday soon, right?), as well as devices running Windows Mobile and Symbian, and the mobile phone industry is going to be engulfed in an all-out price war.

Watch as carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint compete not just on price, but also on applications and content.  And while you'd have to be naive to believe the result will be the creation of a truly open network, the coming months promise benefits and power for consumers as they take us one step closer to that goal.