We all know about the fierce competition when it comes to Open Source, the strongest competitors are Symbian and Google’s Android, of course with Nokia’s new deal with Symbian competition is really getting hot. So with this increased competition from Google and Nokia mobile Linux group LiPS has merged with the LiMo Foundation.

LiPS (Linux Phone Standards) forum announced on Thursday that it will roll all activities and there members into the Linux Mobile Foundation (LiMo), obviously in the attempt to create a much better and of course much stronger entity for pushing mobile Linux. If this all goes to plan then the groups should bolster the mobile Linux developer community and increase the adoption of mobile devices in the face of increasing completion from open source competitors like. Haila Wang, LiPS Forum president said “Our membership agrees that LiPS’s greatest impact can be realized by adding our members’ expertise and resources to LiMo Foundation. Together, the member companies can better strive for a unified and ubiquitous Linux-based mobile platform.”

The move comes as mobile Linux faces increasing competition. On Tuesday, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) bought Symbian and said it would convert it into a free, open source operating system under the Symbian Foundation. This foundation features a broad range of partners, including Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson, AT&T (NYSE: T), and Samsung. There also will be strong competition from the Linux-based Android operating system, which is being supported by companies like Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Broadcom (NSDQ: BRCM), and Sprint (NYSE: S). But, the LiMo Foundation should be the first to have handsets on the market, with the first wave expected within a few months.

Seems like Open Source is a major thing for 2008 and things will only get hotter.

Source — product-reviews.net