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Linux Solidly Part of the Future of Mobile Operating Systems

Motorola has recently released their first Linux phone in the US market called the RIZR Z6. This is definitely a coming of age for Linux on the mobile devices.

Motorola’s first Linux handset for the US market, the RIZR Z6, is also likely to be the first in the industry to run an “open” operating system - Linux, Symbian OS or Windows on a single- rather than dual-processor architecture. This shows that Linux is making significant improvements in its suitability to be an operating system for mobile devices, and could give Motorola a significant headstart in the battle to create low power, low cost smartphones.

Right now, the choice of operating systems for mobile devices revolves around a few players. Of course, this is over an above Nokia’s warming up to Linux. Of course, symbian still has a very very big lead over the rest of the pack.


OS Market Share Vendors
Symbian 72.8% Sony Ericsson, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Fujitsu, Panasonic, Siemens, NTT Docomo, Sharp, Lenovo, Motorola
Linux 16.7% Motorola, Palm, Nokia, Linksys, Panasonic, Samsung, Siemens, Trolltech, Sharp, Accton, D-Link, Datang, Cellon, E28, FIC, E-Ten, Sony Ericsson, Haier, Grundig, HTC, NEC, Wistron, ZTE
MS Windows Mobile 5.6% HP, Dell, Linksys, HTC, Palm, O2
RIM 2.8% RIM
Palm OS 1.8% Palm

Looks like all players are gaining ground against Palm (maybe the Palm Treo 680 will stop the exodus a bit). Linux and Microsoft are definitely gaining ground. Linux being the obvious Asian favorite. Microsoft being an American favorite. RIM slowed a bit due to IPR woes. Symbian is still the very strong market leader with a very significant lead. All things said, Linux is definitely in the running as one of the mobile operating systems of choice.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 20th, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Linux Solidly Part of the Future of Mobile Operating Systems”

  1. wyuwp Says:
    January 21st, 2007 at 10:51 pm

    The next question will be: What is the most popular open development platform for mobile applications. I did some really really shallow searching and was not able to find any yet.

    However, based on experience these are the most likely candidates for fat client applications only (WAP and i-mode need not apply):

    • Java 2 Mobile Edition - looks like this is the market leader but so much incompatibility still requires developers to port and test per handset
    • Symbian Series 60 - currently nokia’s contribution to mobile fat clients
    • Palm - old leader making it’s way out?
    • MS Windows Mobile - most likely mobile dotnet
    • Blackberry Java - looks and plays like J2ME but not quite
    • Adobe Flash Lite - new candidate but gaining ground

    Of course, you don’t see Linux in the top running because most Linux systems are closed systems that don’t allow additional Linux applications to be loaded directly by end-users on the handsets. Most Linux phones simply have a Java stack. However, as it gains popularity, this may change.

  2. Roger D Says:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 8:20 am

    hi, i’ve been trying to look for the ‘other’ phone OS which i think is also popular but it is not always mention, you have info on the following phone OS, nucleus and rex. are these two really doesn’t have market share to show?

  3. wyuwp Says:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 8:33 am

    don’t know about these two. where did you hear them? what manufacturer’s use them? maybe these are just application loaders and not full operating systems?

  4. wyuwp Says:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 9:01 am

    yup. they are RTOS not quite application loaders but definitely something tightly integrated into the hardware and not open.

    The Nucleus Mobile OS has long dominated the baseband side of the mobile phone processing equation,” said Neil Henderson, general manager for the Embedded Systems Division of Mentor Graphics. “Now, we’re seeing more and more opportunities to play on the application side as well. By combining the powerful Nomadik-based platform with the expansive features of the Nucleus Mobile OS, handset makers can give consumers the features they want at a price they can afford.

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