Google has overtaken Microsoft in the battle over the software that
runs mobile phones and is challenging Apple for share of the fast
growing smartphone market.
Google's Android was the fourth most popular operating system on
smartphones sold in the first quarter, research firm Gartner said on
Wednesday, putting the company in a good position as handsets look set
to surpass computers for browsing the Web.
Android, which was in 10 percent of smartphones sold in the quarter,
still lags Nokia's Symbian, Blackberry-maker Research in Motion and
Apple.
But Gartner said Android phones were already outselling the iPhone
in North America, less than two years after the Internet search giant
entered the market.
"Android will sail smoothly. Until next year it will likely be a
battle between Apple and Android," Jee Dong-seob, a senior official at
SK Telecom, told Reuters Global Technology Summit in Seoul.
DEVELOPER BOOM FOR ANDROID
More and more start-ups are developing applications for Android,
boosting interest among consumers and posing increasing risk to Apple,
venture capitalists told the Reuters Summit in San Francisco.
While Apple's app store offers more than 200,000 games, tools and
other software to jazz up the iPhone, against just 38,000 for Android,
the openness of Google's mobile operating system is helping it gain
popularity with developers.
"I am quite impressed by the traction the Android ecosystem is
getting," said Redpoint Ventures' partner Chris Moore.
"I want to say that on the current trajectory, they (Android) will
pass the iPhone platform, or at least reach parity by the end of this
year or middle of next year."
App developers usually choose a limited number of mobile platforms
to write software for as every additional platform sharply raises their
costs.
CROWDED MARKETPLACE
Nine major operating systems have either launched or are in
development. Some players in the industry expect to see further
consolidation, while others say fragmentation is set to continue.
"Markets will continue to remain fragmented and competition will
only get tougher as players will push hard to develop new systems or
upgrade existing ones to offer customised products for mobile carriers,"
Lee Ho-soo, head of Samsung's bada smartphone operating system, told
the summit in South Korea.
Morgan Gillis, chief of mobile operating system LiMo, told the
summit in Paris he expected to see more consolidation following Nokia's
and Intel's merger of their Linux-based operating systems.
"I think that the eventual number of industry device operating
systems will be no more than five, probably four," Gillis said.
MICROSOFT CHALLENGED
Microsoft, which has been making mobile software for around 10
years, said it was committed to wireless, and hopes to claw back market
share it has lost to rivals with new Windows Phone 7 models, due to
reach markets in time for holiday sales at the end of the year.
"We are very committed, it's a core part of our strategy," Microsoft
CFO Peter Klein told Reuters Summit in New York.
Handset makers such as HTC and Samsung make Windows phones but are
increasingly turning to Android, which is not only free but attracting a
fast-growing developer community.
