The delivery of rich content on mobile devices is arguably the next big thing in the evolution of the Internet. 10 years ago many would have dismissed the idea of accessing the web using their cell phones. But today more and more people are accessing the web using mobile devices. The battle for the mobile platform market has already started.
Today, there are 6 prominent mobile platforms in the industry, each fiercely competing with each other.
1. Symbian
Symbian is the platform promoted by Nokia. Recently the Symbian Foundation, along with a new version of the software, made the platform fully open and free. Currently, Symbian has the largest share in the market. But in recent years Symbian has been gradually losing this share. Symbian’s future is less promising because the Symbian OS has aged and doesn’t provide a rich UI (User Interface) experience compared with other platforms such as iPhone and Android. Since Symbian has a large market share (around 40%) it will continue to be a dominant player for few years, until competition eats its share eventually.
2. iPhone
The Apple iPhone platform is a closed platform that runs on proprietary Apple devices. This has both ups and downs for the platform. Since iPhone is a closed platform the apps are less prone to errors. iPhone software developers have to worry about running their apps only on one type of hardware. But on the down side the proprietary technology will not allow the iPhone platform to be adopted by other phone manufactures. Remember, in the 80s Apple lost the PC battle to Microsoft because its software could only run on Apple hardware. One huge plus point for Apple is the large number of apps that are available on the iPhone.
3. BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a dominant player in the corporate market for smart phones. But lately it has been noticed that BlackBerry is losing market to companies like Apple which is slowly entering into the corporate market. More and more business users are ready to let go the keyboard! Having a real keyboard and tighter email security have been the main selling point for the BlackBerry. Another problem faced by BlackBerry is that it doesn’t have a vast range of apps.
4. Android
Android is an open sourced free platform promoted by Google. Since the Android platform is new, open and free, it provides the biggest challenge to Apple. Already a number of manufacturers are onboard the Android platform. Android provides a rich UI experience that is comparable to the iPhone. The open architecture of Android means we will see more Android apps in the near future. Androids open architecture can also become its hurdle. The platform has to support numerous types of devices and it could make Android apps prone to errors or glitches. This is not to say that Android apps will be buggy. But they need to undergo more testing. Imagine writing a web page for one type of browser as opposed to writing it to work on many different browsers. In the latter scenario more testing and tweaks are needed. The same applies to Android apps!
5. Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is the smart phone platform from Microsoft. Windows Mobile is based on the Windows family of operating systems. Microsoft claims that the main selling feature of Windows Mobile is that users are already familiar with Windows on their PCs. This argument has less merits because mobile users want to use their phone in more easy and intuitive ways. They do not want the same PC experience! One issue that has plagued Windows Mobile is the lack of native support for capacity touch and multi-touch.
With capacity touch you can easily control the User Interface by simple finger movements such as swiping. Multi-touch refers to the ability to use more than one finger in controlling the User Interface. Currently the Windows Mobile only supports resistive touch. Resistive touch needs needle sharp pressure of a finger nail or stylus. Capacity touch provides a more pleasant user experience. Companies like HTC has successfully built their own user interfaces on top of the Windows Mobile platform. But they had to do it with their own layer of software on top of Windows Mobile. Microsoft is planning to add capacity touch and multi-touch support in the upcoming version of Windows Mobile, possibly in version 6.6. But this may be too late for Microsoft to put Windows Mobile back on track.
6. webOS
webOS is the new kid on the block. It is the latest platform from smart phone company Palm. The Palm Pre smart phone introduced in 2009 is based on the webOS platform. The Palm Pre got raving reviews from the tech community. This has raised the prospects of webOS. The current market share of webOS is low and it is hard to predict where this platform will end. Even if the webOS succeeds it is unlikely that it will be a threat to other major platforms. Gartner Research predicts that webOS will only have 1.4% market share in 2012.
Conclusion
Contrary to popular belief, in the mobile war, technology will not pay a major part. Consumer reach and market penetration will be the key to success. It looks like only two platforms are ready for this, Android and iPhone. Google has the opportunity to get Android on as many smart phones as possible. Apple has the opportunity to build upon their current lead they have with the iPhone and the ever growing number of iPhone apps. But, Apple’s insistence that the software has to run on Apple hardware could become fatal for Apple. We have to wait and see who will win this race. Personally I would put my bet on Android!
Who do you think will win the mobile war?
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Since google seems to be better in all most everything… i think Android will finally win! who knows…
@Pubudu, Both Google and Apple are really smart companies, by the end of 2010, we should have a clearer picture on who will win this war.