Industry Executives Say Google-Apple Rivals Still Have a Chance in the Smartphone Operating System Market

Microsoft, along with other small-scale software vendors, still has plenty of chances to make their way into the rapidly-growing smartphone market. According to the result of a research conducted by Canalys, Google's Android platform is the leader of all mobile operating systems in the market, as Google and Apple both have a hold of more than half of the market. Despite being largely dominated by Google and Apple, the smaller companies have the support from many manufacturers, operators and consumers.

Talking about the both leaders of the market, Apple and Google, the co-founder of Index Ventures, Neil Rimer said that "Those are the two horses that are out in front today." He agreed that a considerable amount of Android phones and iPhones are being sold today and due to the well-developed applications available on both platforms, it is a very tough job for the competitors to make a mark in the market. "The barriers for others than Microsoft have increased," told Magnus Jern, C.E.O. of Golden Gekko, a mobile software house. He added that "A lot of people in Germany, Scandinavia see Apple and Android as the only platforms."

However, Jern and plenty other industry executives are of the same opinion that platforms like Windows Phone, webOS, bada and MeeGo; despite having fallen far behind in the race from Android and Apple, shall not be considered out of the game. They pointed out that almost all the owners of these smaller companies have a lot of investment to make.

Hewlett-Packard will soon be launching more devices with its webOS platform as Samsung Electronics keeps promoting its bada platform and Intel supports its own MeeGo platform. Even Nokia still has plans of selling 150 million more smartphones with its old Symbian platform.

Many analysts have predicted the market share of Android to be approximately 40 percent this year and further increased above 50 percent in the years ahead. HTC, the developed Taiwanese manufacturer hopes that since its smartphones run both Android and Windows Phone, it will see both platforms to grow their market. Nokia has signed contracts to use Microsoft's Windows Phone in competition. The President of HTC Europe, Florian Seiche said "I think that Windows Mobile will play a stronger role than it does today in the future.” He added that "The long-term opportunity with Nokia entering will definitely bring Windows back to critical mass, and Microsoft has a lot of assets to bring to the platform."

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Thursday, June 16, 2011