With enough effort Linux can run anything, a PowerPC based Mac, a 486, an iPod, a dead badger. Basically Linux is the whore of kernals and will hookup with any particular hardware if you only buy it a few beers. So it shouldn’t be surprising that Linux can now run your iPhone. Face it, as much as you love the thing and think it has a personality it is just a clever conglomeration of silicon chips, radios and glass. Once you say chips you’re saying Linux so, really, don’t be surprised. Everything under control? Check out the video:

iPhone Linux Demonstration Video from planetbeing on Vimeo.

After that display it is easy to guess what you’re thinking: How can I get Linux running on my iPhone? Well, you’ll need to hook up with the iPhone Dev Team. Those guys are pretty awesome.

Wait, I read the situation wrong? You’re not really interested in getting your iPhone running Linux? You’re just worried that this will be the death of the iPhone? The concerns are understandable. If users could run Android on the iPhone insted of OS X mobile they’d be foolish not to do it right? Let’s look at the plusses of Android:
Free
Open source
Unfettered applications

And compare that to the plusses of the OS Mobile:
Free as far as users are concerned
Closed source
Plenty of Apps
optimized for iPhone hardware

So don’t worry about Android replacing OS X mobile on the iPhone. As far as consumers care they are the same thing, different implementations of the internet anywhere. Geeks can argue about the value of open source but everyone else is looking for a solution, not a philosophy. If people don’t want to put the work into geting Linux on their computers they certainly won’t want to put the work into getting Android on their Iphone. Linux on the iPhone will be fun for geeks and hackers but until it becomes more than “good enough”  it will suffer the same fate as Linux on the desktop. And that fate? Sure, it is good enough to use but it isn’t good enough to make you switch.