FIC has announced the official availability of the OpenMoko Neo1973 smartphone developer handsets. The OpenMoko project was first announced by FIC last year with the goal of creating a comprehensive open-source software platform for touchscreen mobile phone devices. The hackable Neo1973 handset—which features a 2.8 inch touchscreen, a 266 Mhz ARM processor, and WiFi—is the first phone designed to run the OpenMoko software platform.

The currently available models, which are missing a handful of features and aren't intended for regular day-to-day use, are essentially prototypes for developers who want to get a head start on building software for the platform. Unlike the final release models, which will be available in October, the prototype units lack WiFi support and don't have built-in accelerometers. The Neo Base model, which sells for $300, comes with a battery, stylus, headset, charger, a pair of MicroSD cards, and a USB cable. The Neo Advanced kit, which sells for $450, also includes a debug board, a Torx screwdriver, and... a guitar pick—supposedly for opening the phone casing.

The Linux-based OpenMoko software platform, which is still in "pre-alpha" stage according to FIC, uses Xorg, the Matchbox window manager, the GTK toolkit, and other components of the GNOME mobile and embedded software platform. In some respects, the OpenMoko software stack is similar to Nokia's Tablet OS, which is used on the N800. The OpenMoko software platform is very flexible, and independent open-source software developers have experimentally succeeded in attempts to make it run on other hardware, including a Treo 650.

FIC says that three more devices based on OpenMoko are scheduled for release in the coming year. The company also reveals that it has reorganized its mobile technology division to focus entirely on open-source products. "For the people pushing this project, an open phone is not really even a product. It's the very embodiment of our vision of technology," says FIC product manager Sean Moss-Pultz. "We absolutely, passionately, believe that something as fundamental to our lives as the mobile phone must be open."

As an open platform with a growing community of developers, OpenMoko could eventually benefit from an extremely broad ecosystem of powerful third-party software applications. The key to success hinges on FIC's capacity to collaborate with the broader GNOME and Linux communities in order to ensure that a glide path exists between the GNOME desktop and the OpenMoko platform. If FIC can work closely with the Maemo project to ensure ease of portability, it seems likely that the Neo1973 and subsequent OpenMoko mobile devices will be successful.

As a GTK developer myself, I find the Neo1973 highly compelling, but I plan to wait until the final release model is available in October before picking one up for myself. For those of you who want to experiment with OpenMoko development without buying a handset, instructions for testing OpenMoko on a PC are available at the OpenMoko wiki.