Some questions marks have surrounded ALP since its introduction in February, particularly since no carrier or hardware vendors have publicly chimed in with full support. That changed at LinuxWorld, at least on the operator side of the equation.

The carrier Orange, which has 149 million customers on five continents, has approved ALP for its network. PalmSource and Orange announced they are working together to develop an Orange Application Package for ALP-based mobile phones. This package, which runs on top of ALP, will enable device vendors to quickly develop ALP-based Orange Signature Devices.

The companies will also jointly develop a customized suite of applications with support for third party software. "We believe the announcement, along with our joint development (with Orange) on the Orange Application Package for ALP highlights the momentum the ACCESS Linux Platform is gaining in the marketplace," PalmSource spokesperson Maureen O'Connell said to PDAStreet.

Orange VP, devices Yves Maitre said, "This is part of our wider Signature strategy, which delivers a consistent customer experience across a variety of devices and applications. Having ALP as an Orange approved platform and working with ACCESS to develop and deliver the Orange Application Package for ALP, will enable us to foster the growth of the mobile Linux market."

Although PalmSource couldn't comment on whether this meant Orange would definately be offering ALP devices on its network, O'Connell said her company expected the Orange Application Package for ALP would provide a time-to-market and compatibility advantage for hardware manufacturers.

"It is specifically designed to accelerate time to market for ALP-based mobile phones and devices," O'Connell told PDAStreet. "This package, containing applications optimized to deliver the Orange experience, will provide handset and mobile device manufacturers with a turnkey mobile Linux platform. This platform can then be used to easily and quickly develop ALP-based Orange Signature Devices."

Development
To encourage the creation of ALP applications, PalmSource has morphed the Palm OS Developer Program into the ACCESS Developer Network. The company says the purpose of the online resource is to help accelerate development cycles and time-to-market for ALP applications by providing early access to new ALP releases, products and tools to developers.

The company also views it as a way to extend the 420,000 existing registered members of the Palm OS Developer Program as well as new members to open source, mobile Linux and, of course, ALP in particular. ACCESS and PalmSource, through the ACCESS Developer Network, say they'll work closely with developers to optimize their mobile applications to run on the new platform.

"PalmSource has a great history building a successful developer ecosystem and supporting mobile developers," asserts Larry Berkin, senior director developer ecosystem & technology acquisition, PalmSource. "The ACCESS Developer Network will further enhance the developer offering and be focused on building and growing a robust mobile Linux ecosystem benefiting developers, operators and handset manufacturers while providing end users an extensive catalog of market ready applications- right out of the gate."

To help current Palm OS developers along, ALP integrates a Palm OS emulation engine. Speaking to PDAStreet, O'Connell said, "As you may know, ALP does include a Palm OS compatibility layer (code name GHost for Garnet on Host). We expect that properly written 68K based Palm OS applications will run on ALP-based mobile phones and devices," O'Connell reiterated."

There are over 25,000 currently available Palm OS titles. Many view the ability for the majority of these applications to run in ALP as key to the platforms success.

PDAStreet asked PalmSource's O'Connell what feedback they've recieved from developers regarding the transition from the Palm OS to Linux and ALP. She said that while developers are showing interest in the new platform, "we just announced the ACCESS Developer Network, so it is a bit early to evaluate any feedback."

PalmSource has also released a new software library to the open source community. Created as part of ALP, the libsqlfs library is an add-on to the popular SQLite package.

Libsqlfs software was designed to provide a more flexible and convenient way to implement an Open Mobile Alliance-Device Management (OMA-DM) compliant registry. OMA-DM is a key specification for mobile phones and devices that defines a common set of system settings for cell phones.

ALP's Day Will Come
In addition to showcasing a variety of ALP related demonstrations at the LinuxWorld, ACCESS and PalmSource host's a Developer Day devoted to the platform. This event, which took place on Wednesday the 16th, was for those who are interested in porting applications to (or creating them for) ALP. Attendees received an overview of ALP components plus early access and hands-on experience in building software for the new platform.

ACCESS CTO Tomihisa Kamada recently said his company would like to see its share of the global smartphone market grow from 4 percent today to to 30 percent by 2010. ACCESS bought PalmSource last year for $324 million.

Meanwhile, Palm, Inc. revealed a couple of weeks ago PalmSource failed to meet certain milestones as per a co-development agreement the companies signed to renew the Palm OS license. As a result, Palm is now relieved of its obligation to make minimum royalty payments to the platform developer. The two are in negotiations to extend the deal, however.

More newsworthy was Palm's admittance that it was working with PalmSource on a new mobile OS with a Linux kernel.