Over the last 12 months, Eclipse has gained a lot of traction in the mobile industry but a lot of the activity is based on technology slices of mobile development. That is why it is great to see Motorola and Nokia proposing a solution to define a common Mobile Application Development Platform. The idea is to define a single mobile application development kit (MADK) that provides the ability to do native code development, Java ME and Web development; then be able to extend the MADK for the profiles of the different device manufacturers.
To define the MADK, Motorola and Nokia have proposed to create an Eclipse Mobile Industry Working Group. An Industry Working Group is a new concept that the Foundation has created to allow for industry collaborations that might include more than just developing code, ex defining common specifications or technology roadmaps. The Industry Working Groups will allow Eclipse members to collaborate under the same Eclipse IP policies but not require an open source project. The Mobile Industry Working Group is the first but we hope to see more created over the next months.
Motorola and Nokia are holding a kick-off meeting next Tuesday, November 18 to discuss their initiative. The actual proposal is here and a presentation here. If you are interested, I would suggest you subscribe to the mailing list and attend the meeting. I hope we will officially create this group in early December.
