Several top companies in the mobile hardware and software business today announced work on a new, Linux-based platform for ARM processors that would serve as the foundation for cellphones, media players, and other pocket devices. Chipmakers Marvell, Samsung, and Texas Instruments would be joined by software developers such as Mozilla to develop a common base that would use the open-source nature of Linux, the Gnome Mobile user interface, and Mozilla’s Firefox browser to let hardware makers quickly add Internet and media features to handhelds.

By having full access to how the OS would work with hardware and other software, companies could launch updates sooner and spend less time worrying about basic standards, the ARM group said.

Development of the platform is already underway and should be completed as soon as early 2008. Actual hardware is not expected until early 2009 but is likely to include both reference designs to be used by other companies as well as some first-party products. Samsung makes cellphones and portable media players of its own that use the ARM chip and has also been known to farm out its technology to companies producing similar devices.