Mobile operating system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nokia E71 smartphone running S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1 UI on theSymbian OS v9.2
A Mobile operating system, also known as , a Mobile OS, a Mobile platform, or a Handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device—similar in principle to an operating system such as Linux or Windows that controls a desktop computer. However, they are currently somewhat simpler, and deal more with the wireless versions of broadband and local connectivity, mobile multimedia formats, and different input methods.
The ongoing shift away from voice-intensive cellular technology to data-intensive mobile broadband is a significant issue for many large industries[1].
Contents
[hide][edit]History
The shift away from cellular technology has triggered hectic competition among not only technology giants, like Microsoft,[2] Apple, and Nokia in a bid to capture the bigger market share pre-emptively. But also relatively young tech firms like Symbian seem to be in the lead pack of the market, particularly insmartphones and PDA phones.[3][4]
And in the growing niche of the market, Palm, Research In Motion and Ericsson are moving vigorously toward their own mobile platform objectives. As recently as in November 2007, Google formed a Linux-based open source alliance to make inroads into this mobile platform market, raising consumer awareness of the growing mobile platform frenzy.[5]
[edit]Issues and challenges
Open standards are gaining more ground across the spectrum of industries related, whereas proprietary mobile platforms, like Windows Mobile, are expanding their market share. Sir Tim Berners-Lee recently re-emphasized his advocacy for open mobile standards in his keynote speech at the first annual meeting of Mobile Internet World held in Boston in November 2007.He warned against a possibility that the Internet connections worldwide may turn into "walled gardens."[6] Google announced its Linux-based open source mobile platform, Android, along with the formation of the 34-member Open Handset Alliance.
Nonetheless, mobile web does not necessarily mean a horizontal and spatial shift from PC-based web, but a severe structural change to identify the missing links, among other things, between the stationary web at home or in the office and mobile web on the go.
Top agenda items may include
1. Continued connectivity between home, cars and Base Stations like WiFi Hot Spots and Femtocell
2. Interoperability of equipment and applications, and adaptability to the ever-shifting mobile multimedia ecosystem
3. Behavioral tracking utilizing GPS data versus privacy concern
4. Real-time links between the wireless world and physical world
5. Financial transactions, including smartcards, SMS and Multimedia Messaging Service.
[edit]Market description
Mobile platforms are in the nascent stage, and any projection regarding the market growth is hard to make at the present time. It is noteworthy that Intel is taking the initiative to focus on portable devices other than mobile phones. They are Mobile Internet Devices (MID) and Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). Meantime, Palm abandoned its plan to develop Foleo, which was to be a companion device for a smartphone.
[edit]Operating systems
Market share of Smartphone operating systems (As of November 2008)
Operating systems that can be found on mobile devices include Palm WebOS ,Symbian OS, RIM's BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Familiar Linux, Palm OS, The Ångström Distribution, and the iPhone OS. The Open Handset Alliance's Android is a recent smart phone addition touted by Google and T-Mobile (which launched the G1 phone on October 22, 2008). The OHA hopes Android will gain 4% market share by year's end.[7]
The most common operating systems (OS) used in smartphones are in Q3 2008:
- Symbian OS from Symbian Ltd. (46.6% Market Share Sales Q3 2008 [8])
- Symbian has the largest share in most markets worldwide, but lags behind other companies in the relatively small but highly visible North American market.[9] This matches the success of its largest shareholder[10] and customer, Nokia, in all markets except Japan. Nokia itself enjoys 52.9% of the smartphone market.[11] In Japan Symbian is strong due to a relationship with NTT DoCoMo, with only one of the 44 Symbian handsets released in Japan coming from Nokia.[12] It is used by many major handset manufacturers, including BenQ, LG, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson.[13] Various implementations of user interfaces on top of Symbian (most notable being UIQ and Nokia's own S60) are incompatible, which along with the requirement that applications running on mobile phones be signed [14] is hindering the potential for a truly widely accepted mobile application platform. It has received some adverse press attention due to virus threats (namely trojan horses).[15]
- iPhone OS from Apple Inc. (17.3% Market Share Sales Q3 2008)
- The iPhone and iPod Touch use an operating system called iPhone OS, which is derived from Mac OS X. Third party applications were not officially supported until the release of iPhone OS 2.0 on July 11th 2008. Before this,"jailbreaking" allowed third party applications to be installed, and this method is still available.
- BlackBerry OS from RIM (15.2% Market Share Sales Q3 2008)
- This OS is focused on easy operation and was originally designed for business. Recently it has seen a surge in third-party applications and has been improved to offer full multimedia support.
- Windows Mobile from Microsoft (13.6% Market Share Sales Q3 2008)
- The Windows CE operating system and Windows Mobile middleware are widely spread in Asia. The two improved variants of this operating system, Windows Mobile 6 Professional (for touch screen devices) and Windows Mobile 6 Standard, were unveiled in February 2007. Windows Mobile is enjoying great popularity because of the low barrier to entry for third-party developers to write new applications for the platform[citation needed].
- Linux operating system (5.1% Market Share Sales Q3 2008)
- Linux is strongest in China where it is used by Motorola, and in Japan, used by DoCoMo.[16][17] Rather than being a platform in its own right, Linux is used as a basis for a number of different platforms developed by several vendors, including Motorola and TrollTech, which are mostly incompatible.[18][19] PalmSource (now Access) is moving towards an interface running on Linux.[20] Another platform based on Linux is being developed by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo,Panasonic, Samsung, and Vodafone.[21]
- Palm OS developed by PalmSource (now a subsidiary of ACCESS)
- PalmSource traditionally used its own platform developed by Palm Inc. Access Linux Platform (ALP) is an improvement that was planned to be launched in the first half of 2007. It will use technical specifications from the Linux Phone Standards Forum. The Access Linux Platform will include an emulation layer to support applications developed for Palm-based devices.
- Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW)
- BREW was developed in the USA by Qualcomm, Inc and is popular in North America and Japan (au). BREW is a mobile application development platform and end-to-end content delivery ecosystem. BREW has recently gained a foothold inEurope via the 3 Skypephones offered by network 3.
- Android from Google (Released 22 Oct 2008)
- Android, which was developed by Google, has yet to own even a small part of the smartphone market because of its recent release date. The OS is currently only on the HTC Dream (G1), running on T-Mobile USA's network. Android was developed as a platform that could be run on many devices. Although the Android operating system may be built to run on many devices, it is run exclusively on T-Mobile's G1 at the moment. Sprint also plans to sell an Android powered phone sometime in February or March of 2009.
Market Share data from Canalys report "Worldwide smart mobile device market, Canalys Q3 2008"[11]
[edit]See also
'참고자료 > 플랫폼' 카테고리의 다른 글
| What is the Android? (0) | 2009.03.20 |
|---|---|
| Giz Explains: What Makes The Five Smartphone Platforms Different (0) | 2009.03.19 |
| [해설] 모바일 시장, 新 경쟁 체제 개막 (0) | 2009.03.18 |