Soon, the cliched “But will it run Linux?” argument can begin spawning itself even more quickly in the fertile waters of the cell phone market, thanks to MontaVista Software. Its goal is to move Linux from the desktop and server realm to a stronger-than-current footing as embedded mobile phone technology.

Estimates show that out of last year’s 120 million mobile phones sold, only 1% of them included non-proprietary software. By easing implementations of Linux in the place of handset-specific operating systems, MontaVista hopes to make adding new functionality to phones as simple as running a Java applet.

Its Mobilinux Open Framework (previewed at CES) is planned to be ported to as many as four different partners’ platforms. It anticipates a strong desire among semiconductor companies to vie for those partnerships, in the hopes of removing TI from the top of the cellular silicon heap.