The Smartphone OS Wars 2013

G

GrimReaper

Disciple
Last couple of years has seen fierce competition in the smartphone OS arena with iOS and Android coming out on top and the battlefield being littered with the dead of some promising candidates (Nokia's MeeGo, HP's webOS and Microsoft's windows Phone 7) that did not make it. But if you think the battle has ended and the winners are sitting pretty in their forts, think again, because a fresh round of competitors some of them battle scarred, are gearing up for a fresh assault !
Heres whats in store come 2013
Windows Phone 8
USP
-> Uniformity through out all computer devices (Windows 8, Windows 8 RT for Tablets and Windows Phone 8 all use the same kernel).
-> Exclusive manufacturing contract with Nokia.
-> Can leverage its strong Desktop OS user-base.
Back when Nokia 6600 was the coolest mobile device in town, i remember being the odd ball with a windows CE (HTC) phone. The concept of smartphones had'nt hit India yet and both HTC and Microsoft's windows CE were unheard of !.
Even though Microsoft was one of the early birds to come out with a smartphone OS (windows CE) their operating system never really took of. But after multiple failures Microsoft has finally come out with a potential winner in the form of a Windows 8/Windows Phone 8 .A complete re-write of the mobile OS Microsoft is attempting leveraging its desktop user base to push its windows phone 8 to app developers, and i think Microsoft after a long while has finally got their product strategy right.
Nokia Lumia phones with Windows 8 was released in the US on Nov last year
Linux Ubuntu Mobile (Open Source)
USP
-> Uniformity through out all computing devices.
-> Excellent cloud Service (Ubuntu One).
-> Can leverage its strong Enterprise userbase (for its Ubuntu server edition) and significant Desktop userbase.
When Mark Shuttleworth the founder CEO of Ubuntu debuted the Ubuntu Unity desktop environment back in 2011 many users, including yours truly were like 'what the fish ? ' why do we need a new UI when the existing ones (Gnome and KDE) are awesome ? little did we know that the Ubuntu team were preparing their operating system to work across other mobile devices like the tablet and phone environment !
Ubuntu already has an ace up its sleeve in the form of Ubuntu One a cloud based service thats like DropBox for Linux. Many of Ubuntu's Desktop Applications already synchronise to Ubuntu One (uniformity across devices) giving them a big advantage over their rivals when they jump into the mobile space. And ofcourse the legions of 'Linux fanatics who hate Micro$oft' ;) will ensure the crucial early adaptors. Ubuntu plans on releasing a Ubuntu Mobile OS for current Google Nexus users coming Feb ! (and hopefully for other major android devices this year) and we can safely expect more unofficial Ubuntu OS ports and mods for android phones !!
Ubuntu Team have been doing deals with hardware manufacturers and will be releasing their first exclusive phone in 2014.
Mozilla Firefox Operating System (Open Source)
USP
-> Internet Expertise (All Firefox OS 'apps' are HTML5 websites !).
-> Brand reputation.
Mozilla firefox for long has been one of the most popular web browsers on Desktops but recently it has been losing ground to Chrome (and IE10 !) and it has'nt really taken off on the mobile side. But all this may be because they have really been cooking up a radical idea, a mobile operating system thats just a giant web browser !. Named 'Boot To Gecko' (gecko being the engine that powers firefox browser) and then renamed to Mozilla Firefox OS, it is an operating system where all the apps are just HTML5 websites rendered directly to your device. This would mean that all an app developer has to do is to create a single 'HTML5 app' that would work in all Firefox os powered device (since a website would work the sameway on any platform/browser !). No more making seperate apps for desktops and phones !.No more costly hardware to run apps. It would lead to truly 'on the cloud' devices. Firefox calls these the 'Open Web Devices'.
Mozilla has demo ed the OS on Samsung Galaxy S2 replacing the native android OS and also on a Raspberry pi !. A Firefox OS mobile phone is expected to be released early 2013.

Blackberry 10
USP
-> Strong Enterprise User Base.
-> New software keyboard.
-> Revamped touch friendly operating System.
Blackberry like Microsoft finally saw the writing on the wall and decided to completly overhaul its product strategy resulting in the the new Blackberry 10 operating system. Blackberry 10 will work across both Phones and Tablets. It has a new user interface which gels well with touch device. Blackberry will continue to focus on its enterprise customers with some special features like a new type friendly software keyboard and ability to have profiles (Business profile/personal profile etc) which enterprise users will find attractive.
RIM has announced that they will be releasing 10 Blackberry devices this year
Tizen (Open Source)
USP
-> Strong backing from Samsung, Intel and mobile carriers like NTT Docomo and Vodafone.
-> Will work across all Samsung Devices including Samsung's smart TVs.
Rumours abound that Samsung plans on discontinuing development of its Bada OS ( made for Samsung Wave series) and jump ship to Tizen. Tizen is a complete re-write of Nokia's long dead MeeGo operating system kernel and Samsung plans to use it across all its devices including Samsung smart TVs and 'in vehicle entertainment devices'. Other manufacturers like Huawei and HTC have also expressed interest in manufacturing Tizen devices. Tizen has strong backing from mobile carriers like Docomo and Vodafone who plan to release their own apps on Tizen.
Reports suggest that Samsung Tizen devices are being readied for the Japanese market even as i write this.
Sailfish (Open Source)
USP
-> Fully compatible with android. Will run android apps as well as native Sailfish apps !
-> will work across all consumer electronic devices like smart TVs.
The true succesor to Nokia's Meego operating system. Nokia developers who worked on MeeGo left (when Nokia dropped MeeGo in favour of Windows Phone) to found their own company Jolla and continued to work on a fork of MeeGo project which resulted in Sailfish. It can run most android apps so it starts off with a massive app base straight of the bat.Sailfish was unveiled on Nov last year.
Jolla may release Saiffish phones and Tablets in the later part of 2013.
I can see some really promising candidates who could possibly challenge both iOS and Android over the long term with their take on mobile operating system. 2013 is certainly an interesting year for smartphone buyers and tech enthusiasts alike :).Can iOS and Andoid withstand this assault? Lets wait and watch ! ... Note: I Have'nt really gotten used to this text editor so I apologise for the lack of formatting in this post. I don't know how to insert empty rows.
 
^^^Apologies ...don't meant to any disrespect to you,deeply sorry if I sound rude in my previous comment ..... but IMHO, this post suited best in 'Mobile Phone' section better...a larger audience/user who may not visit in this section or missed this but interested in mobile/smartphone world.

BTW...Great article to read...Thanks for posting.
 
dissel said:
^^^Apologies ...don't meant to any disrespect to you,deeply sorry if I sound rude in my previous comment .....
Click to expand...
No problem, I spent the night composing it, so got a little taken aback by your previous post. No offense taken.
dissel said:
but IMHO, this post suited best in 'Mobile Phone' section better...a larger audience/user who may not visit in this section or missed this but interested in mobile/smartphone world.
Click to expand...
In that case I think a moderator could do us a favour by moving it to the right section
dissel said:
BTW...Great article to read...Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...
Thank You for the compliment.
 
It was a great read. Keep going :)
One thing that's bugging me...could you correct the words kernel and sleeve? In the article they are 'kernal' and 'sleave'.
Thanks :)
 
New Addition to the smartphone wars.
Amazon Phone
-> Can leverage its existing customer base for Kindle Fire Tablet
-> Kindle store's success gives it a huge advantage over its rivals
-> Excellent distribution network through its Amazon E Stores throughout the world
There were rumours of Amazon working on a cheap Mobile for the past couple of years. Recently a couple of sources, one of them a Taiwanese newsite has confirmed that Amazon has contracted Foxconn (the manufacturers of iPhone) to manufacture its phone. The Amazon phone like Kindle Fire is expected to run on a re-worked Android OS.
The phone is expected to be released sometime around the third quarter of 2013. It could possibly be available to Indian buyers through Junglee.com.
 
Update 2
Facebook has invited the press to a 'special event' this Tuesday 14th Jan and some rumours predict a possibility of a Facebook Phone.
 
Update

Ubuntu Edge
Ubuntu is Launching a hardware 'Superphone' that will boot 2 operating systems Ubuntu Mobile and Android

Ubuntu phone.jpg


The specifications of the phone are insane

The phone is so powerful you can connect it to a monitor and use it as a full out desktop CPU !

-> Multi Core CPU
-> 4 GB Ram
-> 128 GB SSD. Yup SSD for a phone !!!
-> 4.5" sapphire Crystal display
-> Dual Cameras (8mp rear and 2 mp front)
-> Long life silicon anode battery
-> Dual LTE (two 4G antennas)

A campaign has been started on kickstarter and you can pre-order a phone for 600$ . Estimated date of release is May 2014

Ubuntu is trying to out-Apple Apple :D

Heres a link of the promo video by Mark Shuttleworth
 
GrimReaper said:
I can see some really promising candidates who could possibly challenge both iOS and Android over the long term with their take on mobile operating system.
Click to expand...
Which ones. What is so revolutionary about any of them ?

There will always be fanactics to flock to the latest & greatest. To acquire critical mass is a whole other thing.

The most promising to date has been WP8 as it comes with M$ backing and we've seen it will still take them at least 2 more years to mature. WP8 is doing this by supplying affordable handsets in the low to mid tier segments. Its the hardware that will make or break things here.

Show me a contender to the lumia 520. That will be interesting.

GrimReaper said:
Can iOS and Andoid withstand this assault?
Click to expand...
Yes, easily, for the next couple of years at least. Then what ? neither OS is fixed they will also be moving. Just moving across manufactures in android is problematic because of switching costs. People get used to the UI and want to stick with it, don't want to learn another one. This is why vendors put out those bloated or not UIs to hook customers to their brands.

IDC market shares figures that i recall
Android - 75%
iOs - 13%
WP8 - 3%
BB - under 3%
everybody else - remaining 6%

6% vs 88% :D
 
The Ubuntu phone is too far away at may 2014. Would have been nice if available by September :p I'm pretty sure by next year all flagships will have 4gb ram. Presently 2gb is more than enough but I have a strong feeling android is going to get some changes which require more ram making 2gb the standard by next year and 4gb for flagships. We will know by tomorrow if anything huge in 4.3
 
blr_p said:
Which ones. What is so revolutionary about any of them ?
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If you look closely many of these *contenders* have a very different take on what a mobile OS is supposed to be like
Take the recently released Firefox OS, all the *apps* on firefox OS are HTML 5 websites. Just imagine how easy it would be to scale such website apps to any screen size, Desktop, tablet, smartphone ... If you have used android tablets you will know that many apps on the play store have issues scaling to different screen sizes. This will be a huge advantage for firefox os.
And it will also be very very easy for developers to create apps and not worry about the screen size of the device it will be viewed with .

why do i call it revolutionary ? because if mobile OS like firefox becomes main stream they will make Apple's and Google's *install from the app market* model obsolete. Could totally disrupt the mobile market.[DOUBLEPOST=1374593417][/DOUBLEPOST]
blr_p said:
There will always be fanactics to flock to the latest & greatest. To acquire critical mass is a whole other thing.
Click to expand...
Yes every new tech has them, I would prefer the term 'Early adopters' . These guys are important and sometimes help the product succeed.
 
blr_p said:
The most promising to date has been WP8 as it comes with M$ backing and we've seen it will still take them at least 2 more years to mature. WP8 is doing this by supplying affordable handsets in the low to mid tier segments. Its the hardware that will make or break things here.

Show me a contender to the lumia 520. That will be interesting.
Click to expand...

Well MS has been a bungling a lot and i think others could do better than MS when it comes to mobile computing. I recently spoke to an MS employee and he was blaming Steve Balmer (current CEO) for the mess. He ignored the mobile market for too long .....

But yes currently they are the only serious contenders.... For now [DOUBLEPOST=1374594070][/DOUBLEPOST]
blr_p said:
6% vs 88% :D
Click to expand...

2 words *FIRST MOVER'S ADVANTAGE* (ok thats 3 words). Apple and Google have been in the game for years now but they cant count on that to keep them on top for too long :D .
New features every Quarter from Mozilla :woot:
http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2013/0...re-releases-security-updates-every-six-weeks/
 
artikle said:
The Ubuntu phone is too far away at may 2014. Would have been nice if available by September :p I'm pretty sure by next year all flagships will have 4gb ram. Presently 2gb is more than enough but I have a strong feeling android is going to get some changes which require more ram making 2gb the standard by next year and 4gb for flagships. We will know by tomorrow if anything huge in 4.3
Click to expand...
You are being greedy :D
Many of the tech in the proposed Ubuntu Phone are very very new...
Solid State Drive for a Phone !!! and 128 GB of that to boot.
Sapphire Crystal Display ?? You need diamonds to scratch that, Gorilla Glass doesn't stand a chance in comparison
And from what they said during the promo video its highly likely that the display technology (Retina, AMOLED) will be something thats not been used before by anybody.

I am actually waiting to see if they can keep their word and release it by May 2014.
 
artikle said:
I'm pretty sure by next year all flagships will have 4gb ram. Presently 2gb is more than enough but I have a strong feeling android is going to get some changes which require more ram making 2gb the standard by next year and 4gb for flagships. We will know by tomorrow if anything huge in 4.3
Click to expand...
On the xperias, if you kill apps and see how much RAM is occupied you are at 800MB, this is why 1GB may be a problem for future updates. Devices with only 1GB might not get a vendor supported update. Sure you can flash roms but the response might be laggy requiring a lot of customising. Its a risk.

1.5 - 2GB is not going to be a problem for 4.3 and i doubt even for 5.0.

4GB on flagships is just a marketing numbers game, they want to charge more for the next device. As it is we get short changed on just storage space, let alone RAM.
 
Yeah RAM is something you can never get enough of. I remember my Note 2 always used to have more than 1 GB RAM used even if I closed all the apps. This was on stock ROM.
 
GrimReaper said:
You are being greedy :D
Many of the tech in the proposed Ubuntu Phone are very very new...
Solid State Drive for a Phone !!! and 128 GB of that to boot.
Sapphire Crystal Display ?? You need diamonds to scratch that, Gorilla Glass doesn't stand a chance in comparison
And from what they said during the promo video its highly likely that the display technology (Retina, AMOLED) will be something thats not been used before by anybody.

I am actually waiting to see if they can keep their word and release it by May 2014.
Click to expand...

New tech does not necessarily mean the device will succeed. Some nokia phone few years back came with a small HDD in it and it was a failure from what i know. N91 or something.
 
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