OStatic

The fateful day has arrived for the first Android-powered phone. This Google-backed open phone will likely be sufficient for a large number of users -- if not in its first incarnation, certainly within a few models and revisions.

But it certainly isn't the only open phone. It isn't the first by any means, and it has another competitor hot on its heels.

Some more pioneering souls might forego the tamer Android for the Neo FreeRunner or the upcoming NeoPwn.

Are we about to see more competitors pulling out of the mobile Linux race? Recently, researchers at J. Gold and Associates produced a report predicting that Google's Linux-based Android platform would merge with the new and open source mobile platform from Symbian,? pitting two huge Goliaths (Google and Nokia) against any Davids who might dare to produce Linux-based handsets. While it's pure speculation that that might ever happen, a sign of weakening confidence on the mobile Linux front has appeared: The Access Linux Platform's initial and only smartphone project was recently rubbished. Orange is bailing on its plan to deliver a Samsung smartphone running Access Linux.

With a series of Linux-based phones based on the LiMO platform coming this year, and phones based on Google's Linux-based Android platform, is there risk of market fragmentation? We've looked at the platform prospects before. Now, Stacey Higginbotham, on our sister blog GigaOm, has an analysis of what we can expect to see. She also wonders why ABI Research keeps adjusting its predictions for Linux smartphone market share. Check it out.