Linux is expanding its influence outside of the world of smartphones, and is
poised to take a significant share of the mid-range mobile phone market as well,
according to a new study from ABI Research.
The study, released this week, found that efforts to promote and standardize
Linux on mobile phones are paying off, while problems relating to Linux's processor
requirements are being alleviated.
As a result, by 2013 nearly one out of every five mid- or high-end mobile devices
will use a Linux-based operating system, according to the report, called "Mobile
Linux: Bringing License-Free Operating Systems to Smartphones and Middle-Tier
Devices."
Among the pro-Linux factors cited by ABI as making a major difference are the
LiMo Foundation, founded in January 2007 by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic
Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone, as well as Google's
Android initiative, Nokia's use of the Linux-based Maemo operating system for
its tablet devices, and Nokia's acquisition of Trolltech.
Operating system vendors are able to generate revenues from a "very cost-effective"
Linux base by careful choice of which licences they use and through software
engineering that isolates proprietary components from open source components,
said ABI vice president Stuart Carlaw.
"Linux OS solutions will be far more cost-effective than incumbent solutions,
even when silicon requirements are taken into account, given that a fuller application
layer will be included in the standard package and that the burden of customization
falls mostly on the independent software vendor," Carlaw said in a statement.
Due to the cost factor, Linux will be central to the mobile industry's efforts
to bring more features and a more media-rich environment to mid-range devices,
the report predicted.
Linux will also be important in making web-based applications more important
on mobile platforms.
Last August, ABI issued a report more narrowly focused on smartphones, predicting
that Linux would be running on 31 percent of all smart devices by 2012. Linux
was growing faster than Windows Mobile and Symbian on such devices, the firm
said.
The new report has a broader scope, also taking in the mid-tier devices that
typically rely on a Real Time Operating System (RTOS).
In China and Japan, Linux smartphones already have more than 30 percent market
share, having grown massively since 2004.
