Google Drives Linux Adoption in Mobile Space

The smartphone operating system space has been marked by fragmentation. While a few different attempts have been made to establish a de facto standard, they have fallen short. However, it appears that Linux may eventually emerge as the markets primary OS.ABI Research predicted that Linux will be on one of every three mobile phones shipped in 2015. The market shift is expected for a couple of reasons. Google has been quite successful in using Linux as the underpinning for its Android phones, which have recently gained significant market momentum: ABI found that the vendor is shipping more than 60,000 smartphones each day. Because of its success, competitors have followed Googles lead. Nokia, and Samsung are trumpeting two other new Linux-based operating systems, bada and MeeGo.

To date, a wide variety of operating systems has cluttered the smartphone space. Nokia has been one of the prime drivers in development of the Symbian operating system, which has garnered a lot of traction in Europe but not much in the US. Its impact seems to be waning. Microsoft wanted its Windows Mobile OS to become as dominant as its Windows OS, but that has not been the case. One reason is Apple has been steamrolling along with its proprietary OS.

The wide variety of operating systems makes it difficult for small and medium businesses to integrate and manage different smartphones. The emergence of a dominant OS, such as Linux, promises to simplify those tasks because different products would be working from a common base. Linux has not made that mark yet, (and despite ABIs projection) that may not occur. However, it seems to offer users the best option for clearing the muddy cell phone OS waters.