Funny how the chipset and memory (hardware and RFIC guys) cannot keep up with the mobile OS. Apple iOS really started the whole smartphone craze with superb User Interface, sharp display, and user friendly menus. In addition, they had a deep market of Apple developers with a very sturdy iOS platform for developing mobile applications. For awhile, Windows was basically out of the game while Google was steadily refining and improving their mobile OS – Android. Symbian and Palm may be in India and Europe, but as a mobile OS they are on a rapid decline.
Now every handset manufacturer is looking to churn out pure touch screen phones and thin paper like folding smartphones with better user experience and features that can keep up with both business users and consumer demands for all three major mobile OS platforms – iOS, Android, and Windows.
Mobile OS - Strategy and Issues
The major issue for any mobile OS and mobile apps is still battery life, or rather the poor performance of the battery used to power these mobile devices. And the new features of Android 5 (Jelly Bean), iOS 6, and Windows 8 Mobile makes it necessary for the next Steve Jobs (please announce yourself) to make a revolutionary battery that can keep up with the features.
It is difficult to imagine that iOS 6 will be a disappointing mobile OS, but one wonders that without Steve Jobs if it will be rolled out too soon or missing features. I mean above all Steve had the pulse of the market like no one else. Let’s look at what we do know.
Google is making a very smart play. First they acquired Motorola Mobility and with those contacts and knowledge under their belt, is now one of four major smartphone manufacturers and can use Android to expand their mobile OS in an additional brand to go along with their next generation Nexus.
And they are looking to compete directly with Apple’s iPad with a Google tablet. Plus Jellybean will combine the features of a full touchscreen user interface, social networking past the widgets, video streaming, and mobile payments in their new mobile OS.
Windows 8 is a very interesting gamble. The truth for the partnership between Intel and Microsoft is this is a make or break moment for both. With live tile style apps and the faster mobile chipsets, then Microsoft as a viable mobile OS player may have it’s comeback.
If aspects of Windows 8 mobile OS is not quickly marketed as a preferred mobile OS by the finicky USA based mobile operators and their consumers, chalk it up that Bill Gates retired too early and forgot to read the tea leaves that Steve Jobs clearly had written. Is innovation a thing of the past for Microsoft?
The Pending Death of a Mobile OS
As for Blackberry as a viable mobile OS player, what can I say? Dead! Sorry guys, but even the government does not want to buy anything running your mobile OS anymore as Crackberry is losing ground primarily with their own customer base – see Crapberry and Deadberry?
