Thursday, 5 June 2008

Linux Framework Wars Down to Two Parties

The recent raft of announcements made by the LiMo Foundation and the Open Handset Alliance indicate that incumbent smartphone OS software vendors will soon face a serious challenge, deriving from two technically competent and coalesced Linux consortia...

The recent raft of announcements made by the LiMo Foundation and the Open Handset Alliance indicate that incumbent smartphone OS software vendors will soon face a serious challenge, deriving from two technically competent and coalesced Linux consortia.

The LiMo foundation announcement of support from another major carrier in the form of Verizon, as well as the growing support for Android in the form of numerous global application developers coding innovative applications for the platform, categorically proves these are not a flash in the pan as many incumbents would have you believe.

“By 2013, we expect that Linux will take 23% of the smartphone market and will be the second most prevalent solution behind Symbian,” said ABI Research vice president and research director Stuart Carlaw.

“And although LiMo and Android will take the lion’s share of the market for Linux solutions, there will be opportunities for solutions such as Maemo which will be facilitated by the encroachment of the MID (Mobile Internet Device) form factor into the mobile devices landscape.”

In a recent report, ABI Research found that Nokia’s poor position in the Americas resulted in a 2007 share of only 4% for Symbian in the American smartphone market.

According to ABI, it is imperative that Symbian looks to grow its share of the North American market by gaining more traction from other handset vendors that are performing well there. Otherwise, the company could face a situation whereby its leadership in the European markets is challenged by a combination of a resurgent Windows and emerging Linux, while simultaneously being locked out of the North American market.