The nonprofit LiMo Foundation has announced the launch of LiMo Platform Release 1 at the CTIA show in Las Vegas.

The first release gives manufacturers the basic operating system software needed to run a phone, and lets them add a tailor-made user interface and applications.

"This is a significant achievement for LiMo in that we now have a complete fully released version of the platform that our members are free to distribute", said Andrew Shikiar, director of global marketing for the LiMo Foundation.

There are over 30 phone companies that are members of the LiMo Foundation, including Samsung, Motorola, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, and through the TrollTech acquisition, Nokia.

The platform will compete with established mobile operating systems including Symbian, Windows Mobile, the iPhone and with the other big open source mobile OS - Google's Android platform.

>> Link - LiMo
>> Via - CNet