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 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.
ABI Research vice president and research director Stuart Carlaw states, “By 2013, we expect that Linux will take 23% of the smartphone market and will be the second most prevalent solution behind Symbian. 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. 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.
Smartphone and OS Markets provides a thorough overview of the smartphone market, concentrating on key developments in both device feature set expansion and the evolving software landscape. The report covers important topics including specific features and technologies that enhance the user interface, in addition to the encroachment of open source software into the smartphone domain. [ABI Research]
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 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.
ABI Research vice president and research director Stuart Carlaw states, “By 2013, we expect that Linux will take 23% of the smartphone market and will be the second most prevalent solution behind Symbian. 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. 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. [ABI Research]
Google’s Android: A Shot in the Arm for Mobile Linux?
The spread of Linux into the mobile environment will face significant barriers, including vertical fragmentation due to the lack of complete stack, and horizontal fragmentation (the result of many bodies developing solutions in parallel). Both aspects have made it very difficult for device vendors, carriers, and third-party software developers to justify vast investment in platform development, but Google’s Android may be the solution.
“Android provides a ready-made ecosystem of vendors, carriers, and software developers that could provide enormous economy-of-scale right from the start,“ explains Stuart Carlaw, ABI Research director. “Another concern over Linux involves how to monetize innovation that is subject to a public license. Android solves this through the use of the Apache V2 public license, which does not include a copyleft function.”
Android may produce an unexpected side-effect by providing a valuable proof-of-concept for the idea of mobile Linux, which could rub off on companies such as ACCESS and Trolltech. ABI Research forecasts that by 2012, approximately 127 million Linux smartphones will be shipped each year.
A recent report, Mobile Linux, demonstrates how and why the industry as a whole is rallying behind the Linux offering, and indicates significant barriers that still exist before Linux emerges as a true market power. This report explores these barriers, supplies a detailed SWOT analysis of the mobile Linux offering, and presents forecasts for Linux uptake in mobile devices for commercial OS implementations and RTOS replacement. It forms part of ABI Research’s Service Mobile Devices. [ABI Research]
By 2012 More Than 203M Mobile Phones Will Use Linux OS
The Linux community is assaulting the mobile phone environment with a two-pronged attack that focuses on commercial operating system solutions and real-time operating system (RTOS) replacement. In a new study, ABI Research forecasts that by 2012, more than 127 million devices will be enabled with a commercial Linux OS, up from 8.1 million in 2007.
Additionally, device shipments that incorporate Linux as an RTOS replacement are set to grow to more than 76 million units in 2012, up from nearly zero in 2007. "Linux in the cellular phone is not a question of ‘if'’, but ‘when’," says research director Stuart Carlaw.
The new report, "Mobile Linux: Bringing License-Free Operating Systems to Smartphones and Mid-Tier Devices," found that the most fundamental issue that has plagued the growth of commercial Linux in this space — vertical and horizontal market fragmentation — has shown signs of being alleviated, both by growing collaboration between industry initiatives, and by the introduction of complete solutions such as the Trolltech-led GreenSuite, and ALP from ACCESS.
On the other side of the coin, issues with latency have prevented Linux being considered as a viable RTOS replacement in single-processor devices. But Carlaw points out that "Innovative solutions such as PREEMPT_RT, the VirtualLogix virtual operating environment, and the use of RTOS executives over Linux kernels, look set to deal with latency issues.
However, the industry still needs to understand the total cost of ownership for Linux solutions, and it must create a common set of APIs to enable economies of scale for third-party developers."
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