Linux on mobile fast-track
Linux will dominate mobile devices by 2015. That’s according to a new report from technology analyst ABI Research.
The report, title “Linux For Mobile Devices”, predicts that growth of Linux-based operating systems for mobile devices will outstrip that of other platforms in the 5 years.
According to ABI the likes of Google’s Chrome OS and Google’s Android OS are likely to push mobile Linux devices as high as 62% of the entire mobile market by 2015.
The report says that other Linux-based operating systems will also be a key part of the new upsurge in Linux mobile devices. Among them will be Intel and Nokia’s joint venture, Meego, and Palm’s WebOS.
Victoria Fodale, a senior analyst with ABI, says that “the number of Linux-oriented initiatives recently seen in the mobile industry indicates that Linux will be a key technology in the next generation of netbooks, media tablets, and other mobile devices.”
Interestingly, Fodale says that despite the impression that Linux is fragmented the open source operating system does have a “unified based of upstream components, notably the Linux kernel”.
The findings of ABI Research are not entirely surprising. Operating systems such as Android have started to climb in the popularity stakes. According to ComScore’s most recent analysis Android was the only phone to increase its share of the smartphone market between February and May this year. And that it did with a healthy 4% share increase.
The big loser, at the moment is Microsoft as the company struggles to get Windows Phone 7 into a marketable form. According to ComScore the company’s share of the smartphone market dipped almost 2% during the same period.
Android is not the only representative of Linux on mobile. MeeGo now has a version 1.0 release in the market and HP’s recent acquisition of Palm could well see Linux-based WebOS appearing on mobile phones shortly.
Another potentially big player in the coming years for mobile Linux is Linaro. With backing from some of the largest IT players, Linaro is aimed at creating a unified Linux base for ARM processors. Developers will then be able to use the base components to further develop for specific ARM-based devices, which are poised to boom in the coming couple of years.
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