Openmoko Releases CAD Files for Neo Mobile Phones
3 Mar, 2008Unrestricted download of CAD files for Neo-branded mobile devices gives industrial designers the freedom to redesign phones as needed.
Openmoko, an integrated Open Source mobile-communications platform, has posted online the industrial-design source files for its Neo-branded mobile phones, giving designers around the world the opportunity to customize Neo phones to fit their markets' needs.
Openmoko posted the CAD files, which describe the physical shell of the Neo mobile devices, under a ShareAlike Creative Commons license. Through its free copyright licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists, and educators a range of protections and freedoms that build upon the "all rights reserved" concept of traditional copyright, enabling a voluntary "some rights reserved" approach.
Openmoko reportedly plans to open the CAD files for the design of its upcoming Neo Freerunner mobile phone before the phone hits the market.
"Openmoko provides one more key to anyone who wants to unlock the mobile phone. With these drawings, developers and designers will be able to create their own open phone from the inside out," said Lawrence Lessig, founder and CEO of Creative Commons. "By releasing the CAD files for the exterior of the phone under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license, Openmoko is unlocking what typically is a closely guarded secret in consumer electronics companies and putting it under a free license so others can build upon their work legally."
Openmoko currently sells the Neo series of open mobile devices to developers and educational institutions worldwide. Openmoko is an independent subsidiary of Taiwan electronics company FIC.
