Motorola is reportedly trimming its work force, something that would not normally be particularly notable given the company’s stiff competition from Research in Motion (RIM), Apple’s iPhone and others, as well as the difficult economy. However, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Motorola is also narrowing its focus to the Linux-based, Google Android OS. While we might expect Motorola, which is a member of the Android-centered Open Handset Alliance, to be working on Android phones, the device manufacturer has historically focused on lower end feature phones and other operating systems.

Motorola is not alone in its mobile Linux focus and the OHA is not the only mobile Linux effort to attract significant attention and investment from a variety of players, including chipmakers, handset makers, software developers and providers, wireless carriers and services companies. Another group that is also focused on a more unified mobile Linux environment and effort is LiMO. Although many, including us, have been skeptical of mobile Linux consortia the likes of which we have seen before, LiMO has managed to attract significant members, release software and get phones in the market (though limited mainly to Asia). Still, between the membership of the OHA and LiMO and considering vendors that belong to both — Broadcom, LG, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Wind River and others — it’s clear that there is unprecedented focus on and investment in mobile Linux. Another recent indicator of the rising significance of mobile Linux: Motorola and fellow OHA member Qualcomm were among those recruiting Linux developers at the recent Linux Plumbers Conference.

We also hear from a variety of mobile vendors, particularly outside the U.S., that there is a general move toward openness in the mobile industry. The mobile industry has always been forced to be more open — with code and APIs more readily available compared to enterprise software in general — but now we see open standards and flexibility winning over wireless carriers, hardware manufacturers and others eager to spur and speed device and application development. We asked recently whether mobile open source software players would learn from the more closed approach of other players, and this is included in a pending CAOS long report on mobile open source. One thing seems clear now from Motorola’s latest moves and the consortia we’ve mentioned here: the answer for many vendors seeking a response to the upheaval of the iPhone and the race toward innovative, Internet-enabled smartphones that are still affordable is mobile Linux.