Sweet is war to those who have never experienced it - Latin proverb
|
|
|
Android and Symbian will dominate mobile OS markets
SMARTPHONES WORLDWIDE are on the whole going to be running either the Symbian or Android operating system, according to Gartner, with the two together expected to have 59.8 per cent of the market by 2014.
Symbian is king for now but Android will almost have usurped Nokia's OS come 2014, according to the market research company's analysis. Gartner sees the race by communication service providers to supply marketing and vendor support for Android-based smartphones making the OS the second largest by the end of this year. And it's bad news for Microsoft, as its Windows phone OS will be relegated to sixth place, embarressingly behind Meego.
Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner said, "The worldwide mobile OS market is dominated by four players: Symbian, Android, Research In Motion and iOS. We believe that market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from CSPs and developers, and strong brand awareness with consumer and enterprise customers."
Gartner expects manufacturers such as Samsung to launch many new budget Android devices in the second half of 2010 that will drive Android into mass market segments. Other players, such as Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola, will follow a similar strategy.
The research company's analysts also predict that by 2014, open source platforms will continue to dominate more than 60 per cent of the market for smartphones. Single source platforms, such as Apple's IOS and RIM's OS, will increase in unit terms, but their growth rates will be below the market average and not enough to sustain market share increases. µ
Share this:
Share
Google don't charge for their software, they give it away - that's the point.
Google earn their money from services, in particular search. Charging for operating systems, particularly in the mobile space, has become a non-viable proposition... when will Microsoft realise this, only after they've thrown billions of dollars at the problem and failed?
Neither Microsoft nor Google make their own hardware, so the argument that Microsoft must base their business model around selling software is false.
Really?
In a marketplace dominated by open source mobile operating systems, why do you expect Microsoft to be any more successful than they have been to date in the mobile space? All the signs are that they are headed for further decline.
Microsoft don't manufacture their own product, consequently their business is entirely based around selling their operating system to hardware vendors who have a choice of at least two massively successful and FREE alternatives to what Microsoft are peddling.
What hardware manufacturer in their right mind will be willing to pay Microsoft for WM7 licences to be used on hardware that is difficult to shift, when Android devices will (and maybe Symbian too - don't write it off just yet!) be flying off the shelves?
I think the Gartner report is spot on - a slight increase of interest in WM7 in 2011 followed by steady decline as more manufacturers realise the return on investment isn't there for WM7.
While I am no fan of microsoft, I think that they are being badly underestimated here.
Source as in place of availability not source as in code.
IOS and RIM OS are only available from a single supplier.
It's called "closed source", not "single source".